I have recently talked about the most popular genres within the gaming industry. I have discussed the pros and cons of Simulation and Real time strategy games. I have delved into the Role Playing genre and why I believe it is worth every penny when investing in these lengthy titles. I have not however included beat em up’s, puzzle and platform, and driving games. These I consider to be the lower end of the spectrum, even though once they were at the forefront of the gaming market. Games as old as Tekken, Croc, Tomb Raider, Need for speed, Forsa, Dynasty Warriors, Midnight Club, Street fighter and many more come to mind.
All this week I have gave my definitions of each genre of gaming, including a group piece on particular genres that appear to be dying out. I have purposely left the best for last, and of course those of you that have read my articles will know that I’m talking about first and third person shooters and adventure games. The basis from which I define these styles of gaming is based on game sales and the quantity that are released. Household brands like the Call of Duty series, one released annually, plus various other titles including Battlefield, The Elder Scrolls games, Mass Effect, Fable, and Gears of war, Dead Space, and Assassins Creed.
I wanted to add this very well known track lesser well known video as it takes me back to some happy times working and breathing London.
Port Royale 3 is a historical real time strategy, Economic, simulation game for Playstation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC. The game has the player following the role of a Trader, Buccaneer or Pirate, trading goods around the colonies in the Caribbean, attacking ports and raiding trading routes. The player can purchase ships, form convoys, start businesses at various towns and built residences and receive income from manual or automated trade routes. The title does have a back story; either route the player decides to follow you must win the heart of the Viceroys daughter. Following the trading route will have you improving settlements and Adventuring will have you rescuing the damsel in distress from pirates.
Whenever an idea comes into my head I never think to write it down, but luckily today my laptop was already on and ready to go. So my idea or rather my question which I will now attempt to answer is certainly an intriguing one indeed. Recently I have been writing articles on games, their genres and games themselves, but I haven’t delved into the prospect of why some particular features appeal to us as gamers. For example Grand Theft Auto, even the older overhead styled titles have you running around city environments stealing cars, murdering people with a variety of methods, committing fraud, stealing, burglary, transporting drugs and so on. But why, oh why does this appeal to us? In real life I wouldn’t drive my car down a path and run over every pedestrian in site would I? Nor would I rob a bank, magically fly a Harrier jump jet or an Apache helicopter. I wouldn’t walk around armed with a visible Ak-47 or rocket launcher, or even run red lights or knock lampposts over.
I recently published a post on the violence we see in video games, but of course every Ying has a Yang, and too be honest I’m not sure which of the two is more controversial. You’ve probably already guessed what I’m talking about, because with violence, Sex soon follows. Sex appeal and sexual content in gaming has increased somewhat over the years, I remember interacting with the strippers from the original Duke Nukem so they would flash their nipple tassels at me. The first 3-dimensional Grand Theft Auto allowed the player to sleep with prostitutes for extra health, provided you had a vehicle and a remote location to carry out the car rocking deed. This would also prove to be a popular and well used feature over the coming GTA series.