The Best Game Music of 2011: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is perhaps the most compelling argument yet for "Video Game as Concert Piece." As a game, it is a smartly designed interlocking series of puzzles, an ever-more-complex world filled with hidden secrets and challenging combat that unfolds with a uniquely Zelda-y sense of joyous excavation. But as a concert piece... oh, boy.
I am, as I have admitted before, not a "Zelda guy." I could never have written a review as far-reaching, comprehensive and lucid as Stephen Totilo's splendid Kotaku review. I also couldn't have put together a piece that points out the game's maddening flaws as humorously (and, I must admit, accurately) as Tim Rogers did.
But I can talk about the music. For all the iconic themes he's written in his career, Skyward Sword is, arguably, Koji Kondo's masterpiece. I'm certainly not going to say that the themes in this game are "better" than any of his past work (particularly Ocarina of Time, as chronicled by Cuise Elroy's Dan Bruno). But when taken as a whole, the score is one of the most far-reaching, interestingly developed and gorgeous series of musical themes I've heard in a game.
Recorded with a full orchestra (though the occasional sampled MIDI instrument does turn up), Kondo's Skyward Sword score is lush, ambitious, and human sounding. Instrumental soloists, particularly some of the woodwind players, all have their moments to shine, and the reprisals of old Zelda classics like "Zelda'sLullabye" and "Inside a House" sound terrific when performed by human beings.
I've written in the past about how dialogue-free games tend to use music more effectively than current-gen "talky" games, and Skyward Sword is a prime example of this. To reiterate my opening thesis, this is a Video Game as Concert Piece, a work that is as much about Kondo's ever-shifting, ever-more-complex musical themes as it is about its puzzles, gameworld, or story.
So far in this series, I've highlighted three musical examples from each game. But darn it, Skyward Sword gets four. Here are they are:
"Goddess' Theme"
Let's listen to this one first, shall we? The most easily recognized tune from the game, the "Ballad of the Goddess" is the main heroic theme from Skyward Sword, and with good reason. From the first trailer I saw for the game, I was struck by how immediately iconic it felt, how it conjured feelings of adventure, purpose, and more than anything, of motion. I really dig this version as well, which presents the theme in a lighter context, pushed by a more delicate but no-less-driving rhythmic bounce.
Is this theme actually better than Kondo's original theme for The Legend of Zelda? I don't know. That's a really stupid question! But "Ballad of the Goddess" is a great example of a hero's theme done right. It's a strongly melodic anthem the boldness of which remains all too rare in modern video games.
"Fi's Theme"
Link's blue robot-ish companion Fi is graced with a lovely theme. Throughout the game, Kondo shares several variations on it, and this one is my favorite. It recalls nothing so much as Thomas Newman's standard-setting work on The Shawshank Redemption, and if that ain't a compliment, I don't know what is.
When the orchestra creeps in for the second pass, ever-thickening counter-melodies layering on top of the lush string arrangement… this kind of piece is proof that a full orchestra will always convey emotion more effectively than an army of perfectly programmed chiptunes. (Sorry, chiptunes. I still love ya.)
"Romance Theme"
Ugh. Gah.
This piece kills me. Go away, stupid oboist. With your stupid ridiculously gorgeous melody/counter-melody-thing. Yes, this isn't even actually an oboe solo (he/she has a flute doubling the part), and the bassoon deserves equal props for laying down some ridiculously beautiful whole notes. There is also like a 5% chance that this is an English horn, since sometimes the two can sound so similar that I get disoriented. Or maybe I'm disoriented by all the prettiness...
Are you sensing that I have a hard time talking about this piece? I do. It slays me. I've reached the limit of my ability to describe it - just listen to it and then go fall in love with someone, okay?
"Loftwing Theme"
Skyward Sword is a game about flight, and so it needed at least one theme that specifically conjured aerial grace. The "Loftwing Theme," written to introduce the giant flying birds ridden by the citizens of Skyloft, is just that—a light, bouncing theme in 6/8 time, which is better known as the unofficial time signature of flight. But the reason I love this track is that it is a flying duet between a flute and… a trombone.
There are a scant handful of video game soundtracks that feature show-stealing instrumental soloists. Violinist Martin Chalifour stole the show on Garry Shyman's Bioshock and Bioshock 2 soundtracks, and the bass clarinetist and bassist on the L.A. Noire soundtrack also had their moments in the sun.
But as nice as the flute solo is, it's the trombonist who steals the show for me—something about his/her entry is so unexpected and lovely; it's so unabashedly old-school Disney, and perfectly captures the slightly ungainly grace of those silly Loftwing birds. The resulting duet with the flutist eloquently conjures the Loftwing's dancing duet with the sky.
This piece, much like the entire score, is a leaf on the wind—watch how it soars. The entire Skyward Sword soundtrack is stupidly great. You can also listen to the whole thing on any of several YouTube channels, and it's easy to find piano transcriptions and downloads all over the place. Kondo's score is an instant classic, as far as I'm concerned, and my favorite part of a great game.
We'll have more of the best video game soundtracks of 2011 soon. Happy holidays!
"The Best Game Music of 2011" is a multi-part series highlighting the best video game soundtracks of the year.
¿Visteis en el especial de anuncios de SEGA como un hombre se golpeaba en la cabeza con una ardilla muerta para poder ver los colores en la Game Boy ladrillo? ¿Os acordáis de aquellos anuncios de Pepsi en los que la Coca-Cola es presentada como un brebaje del que nadie quiere saber? ¿Comparten Pepsi y Coca-Cola los mismos accionistas y lo que estamos viendo es la creación de una falsa competencia?
Realmente eso no importa, ya que lo se muestra hoy aquí es la existencia de este tipo de burlas en los videojuegos. Para encontrarlas no hay que recurrir a la visualización de anuncios ni a las declaraciones fuera de lugar por parte de ejecutivos. No se trata de un fenómeno especialmente extendido y, en muchos casos, resultan lo suficientemente inocentes como para que no lleguen realmente a molestar a nadie.
Echémosle un vistazo a algunos de estos cameos levemente insidiosos…
Jill of the Jungle contra Mario, Commander Keen, Pac-Man y Duke Nukem
Este juego de plataformas para MS-DOS es uno de los primeros trabajos de Epic, autora de sagas como Unreal, Gears of War o Jazz Jackrabbit. Fue presentado en el formato shareware que tanta popularidad atesoraba por aquel entonces, lo que significaba que el primer capítulo era gratuito y para jugar al resto tocaba sacar la cartera del cajón.
Jill, la saltarina protagonista, se va encontrando a lo largo del primer capítulo de su aventura con distintos boletines de noticias. En ellos se nos hace saber que algunas figuras famosas del mundo del videojuego están viéndose obligadas a abandonar sus trabajos ante la frustrante incapacidad de competir con ella.
Así pues, a Mario no le queda más remedio que dedicarse a limpiar las jaulas de los gorilas del zoo, mientras que B. Blaze (Commander Keen), impotente ante la fuerza arrolladora de Epic, mata el tiempo jugueteando con su regla de cálculo mientras recuerda tiempos mejores. P. Man (Pac-Man) también se retira, ya que Jill es demasiado buena como para que sea capaz de plantarle cara, y encima sufre de obesidad mórbida debido a sus excesos alimenticios. D. Nukem (Duke Nukem) es la última víctima del desastre, y acaba en el centro de rehabilitación para personas adictas al alcohol o las drogas Betty Ford, lamentándose entre hipidos por haber sido desbancado de las listas de ventas.
Jill-commander-keen
Finalmente, la industria del videojuego se hunde en como un barco torpedeado ya que los compradores llegan a la conclusión de que si existen los juegos de Epic no tiene demasiado sentido adquirir los de la competencia. Ponerse en contacto con los desencadenantes y únicos supervivientes de esta catástrofe resulta imposible, pues se encuentran de vacaciones en las Bahamas.
Jill-industry
Duke Nukem 3D contra Doom
La popularidad que Doom llegó a tener cuando salió al mercado fue tan descomunal que, en su momento, muchos se acostumbraron a llamar a los juegos de acción en primera persona “juegos tipo Doom”. Aunque a día de hoy ya todo el mundo se ha habituado a referirse a ellos por su género, cuando apareció Duke Nukem 3D aún existía esta costumbre. Quizás por ello, la gente de 3D Realms dedicó un “cariñoso” cameo a la saga de ID, depositando en un escenario el cadáver de uno de los marines especiales. Podemos examinar el cuerpo si queremos que Duke Nukem nos suelte el siguiente comentario: Another DOOMed space marine.
Uniracers contra SEGA y Sonic
En este juego, al igual que sucede en la mayoría de aventuras del más azul de los erizos, podemos recorrer loopings con vertiginosa rapidez o hacer uso de cintas deslizantes que nos propulsen a una velocidad supersónica mientras giramos sobre nosotros mismos. Quizás ante estas similitudes no nos resulte tan extraño descubrir que si intentamos escribir los nombres de Sonic o SEGA el juego nos los rechaza alegando que no son lo bastante “cool”.
Uniracers
Monkey Island contra Sierra
Es evidente que una de las características de Monkey Island que más enorgullecía a sus creadores era la accesibilidad de su obra. Sólo hay un momento en el que nuestro protagonista pueda morir y desde luego será porque el malvado y desconsiderado jugador así lo desee. Por otro lado, es imposible cometer errores que dejen irresoluble la aventura o nos condenen a ver un mal desenlace.
El contraste con la enorme y prácticamente cómica facilidad con la que a veces los protagonistas de los juegos de Sierra podían poner fin a su existencia inspiró uno de los muchos chistes del juego. Para descubrirlo hay que hacer que Guybrush se acerque al borde de un barranco en la isla que bautiza la saga. El suelo se abrirá bajo sus pies y saldrá disparado hacia el fondo. Un texto en pantalla se encargará de señalarnos, jocosamente, que hemos tomado una mala decisión y se preguntará si teníamos una partida salvada reciente.
monkey_sierra
Pero como este no es un juego de Sierra, Guybrush simplemente volverá a aterrizar donde le vimos por última vez, e incluso se prestará a ofrecer una explicación escasamente elaborada que nos ayudará a entender tan peculiar fenómeno: Árbol de goma.
arbol-de-goma
Mientras los autores escribían esta escena debieron comentar algo así como: “Y éste es el punto en el que los jugadores suspiran aliviados”
Donkey Kong Country 2 contra Sonic y Earthworm Jim
Este juego cuenta con un ranking en el que, para poder ir subiendo posiciones, tenemos que coleccionar unas monedas del tamaño de paelleras adornadas con las iniciales DK.
Y mientras Rare sitúa a algunos de los personajes más populares de Nintendo en lo alto del podio de los héroes para que puedan experimentar la gloria y el reconocimiento, a otros los condena a un perpétuo y doloroso fracaso.
¿Qué hacen las zapatillas deportivas de Sonic y la pistola de Earthworm Jim al lado de un cubo de basura con el cartel “no hopers”que en inglés significa “no a los perdedores“?
Final Fantasy contra Erdrick y Link
En el pueblo de Elfland podemos encontrar una tumba en la que ha sido grabada la siguiente inscripción: “Here lies Erdrick” (aquí descansa Erdrick) ¿A quién se refieren? Pues a uno de los personajes principales de Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest), conocido en japón como Roto. Es el protagonista de la tercera entrega y antecesor de los héroes del primer y segundo juego.
Final-fantasy-erdrick
No estaba en los planes iniciales de Square burlarse de él, pues era Link quien se convertía en pasto de los gusanos en la versión japonesa, y su nombre sería recuperado en algunas de las versiones modernas. Aunque la mención a Erdrick se puede considerar fácilmente una burla dirigida a un personaje de la más directa competencia, hay quien considera que la referencia a Link es en realidad un homenaje.
Dan Hibiki contra Art of Fighting
El padre de Dan murió tras un enfrentamiento contra Sagat y por ello su hijo juró venganza. Con el deseo de hacerse más fuerte se inscribió en el dojo de Gouken… ¡Y fue expulsado antes de acabar su entrenamiento! Afortunadamente pudo enfrentarse a Sagat y derrotarle… ¡Pero sólo porque Sagat, preocupado por la enfermiza obsesión de su oponente y sintiéndose identificado por su rivalidad con Ryu, se dejó ganar! Dan, completamente convencido de que ha derrotado al asesino de su padre gracias a sus propios méritos, llega a la conclusión de que es el momento de compartir sus demoledoras técnicas de combate con todo el mundo, y por ello acoge a Sakura Kasugano como su primera discípula. ¡Hasta que ella llega a la conclusión de que lo mejor que puede hacer es abandonarle y olvidar todo lo aprendido!
sakura-ending-11
Debe ser de un candidato a estudiante. Veamos
“Ya domino todo lo que me enseñaste. Pero he decidido olvidar todo lo que he aprendido de ti.”
“Todos tus movimientos parecen estúpidos y además son totalmente inútiles en una pelea.”
Está claro que Capcom no tiene piedad con Dan. ¿Por qué debería tenerla cuando este personaje fue creado con la intención de burlarse de SNK, concretamente de la saga Art of Fighting? Su origen se remonta a una de las ilustraciones oficiales de Street Fighter II: Champion Edition, en la que aparecía por primera vez como una mezcla sin nombre de Ryo Sakazaki y Robert Garcia (protagonistas de Art of Fighting), a la que Sagat no había tratado con demasiada delicadeza. Y es que, por lo visto, a Capcom no le hizo excesiva gracia que el estilo de combate de Ryo y Robert se asemejara al de sus celebérrimos Ryu y Ken.
Lejos de conformarse con esta sutil broma que en su momento se nos escapó a muchos, Capcom decidió convertir a Dan en un personaje jugable secreto en Street Fighter Alpha. Su salto definitivo al estrellato llegaría con Street Fighter Alpha 2, en el que sería un luchador seleccionable desde el principio, y se haría mayor hincapié en su naturaleza cómica.
Aunque pueda parecer una versión cutre de Ryu o Ken, lo cierto es que debe varios de sus movimientos a la saga Art of Fighting, como por ejemplo el patético Gadouken, una ráfaga de energía que no se aleja demasiado de su mano y que recuerda al kooh-ken de Ryo y Robert cuando se quedan sin energia. También podemos fijarnos en como imita la pose de victoria de Yuri Sakazaki en Art of Fighting 2, para una de sus muchas posturitas provocativas.
Una evidentísima referencia la encontramos si conseguimos llegar hasta el final de Marvel Vs Street Fighter con Dan. El desenlace es muy parecido al del primer Art of Fighting, con la hermana del héroe intentando detenerle porque su oponente es… Bueno, esta nueva versión resulta más risueña…
Final de Art of Fighting:
¡Detente, Robert!
Este hombre es nuestro...
Final de Marvel Super Heroes vs. Street Fighter:
¡Hermano! ¡Detente!
El padre de Dan, Go Hibiki, realiza un largo viaje desde el más allá para echarle una mano a su hijo. ¡Y su apariencia es muy similar a la del padre de Ryo en Art of Fighting
Estos parecidos razonables pueden divertir a los no implicados, pero resultan incómodos para quienes los sufren. Cuando Dan Hibiki se encuentre con Mr. Karate, el padre de Ryo y Yuri, en SVC Chaos: SNK vs. Capcom, llegará la inevitable confusión. Un ejemplo del buen humor con el que SNK recibió la presencia de Dan.
¿Eres... padre? Hmm... eh... yo no...
Por si todo esto no fuera suficiente, también podemos fijarnos en su frase de victoria en Street Fighter Alpha
3: “I hate the art of fighting, but I wanna be the king of fighters!”
Dan Hibiki es considerado un luchador muy débil y, por lo tanto, si te enfrentas con alguien que juega con él es muy probable que tenga la fea y poco saludable intención de humillarte con un personaje que, dicho sea de paso, cuenta incluso con un movimiento especial en el que se limita a realizar diversas posturitas ridículas sin hacer a su contrincante el menor daño. Sobra decir que ese es un buen momento para sacudirle.
La bromita con Dan ha durado tanto tiempo que bien se le podría haber dedicado un artículo entero.
Dan Hibiki ha conseguido dejar su impronta en Morrigan Aensland
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World contra Mario
Aunque este juego forme parte de la saga Alex Kidd, fue concebido inicialmente como una versión infantilizada de Shinobi en la que protagonista iba a ser un niño ninja. Este pequeño “Shinobi kid” (ese iba a ser el título del juego inicialmente) sería finalmente sustituido por la que por aquel entonces era la mascota de SEGA y el juego pasaría a llamarse Alex Kidd in Shinobi World. Los cambios no terminarían aquí.
Uno de los enemigos con los que se iba a enfrentar Shinobi Kid era un samurái bigotudo que respondía al sospechoso nombre de Mari-Oh. Esta idea fue desestimada, por lo que el guerrero oriental pasaría a llamarse Kabuto, y su faz sería rediseñada para eliminar el parecido con el fontanero… hasta cierto punto. Las bolas de fuego que surgen de sus manos y rebotan por el suelo como pelotas de goma me siguen resultando familiares, y si a esto le añadimos el hecho de que se encoge como una camisa del mercadillo cuando recibe suficientes golpes…
Se muestran en vídeo tres minutos de la beta de Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Estará a la venta a principios del 2012.
El vídeo está sacado de la beta del juego, donde podemos ver en tres rondas de una partida cómo luce el juego tras el revisado gráfico que ha sufrido y el mapa en el que juegan.
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive saldrá en PC, PlayStation 3 y Xbox 360 a principios del 2012. El juego expandirá la jugabilidad del original con nuevos mapas, personajes y armas con versiones actualizadas de los contenidos clásicos de Counter-Strike.
Otros videos de Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Counter-Strike: Global Offensive
Contenido integro de este artículo, fotografías y videos extraídos íntegramente de la Web: http://www.vandal.net/
How BioShock Infinite will be prescient – interview with Ken Levine
The game's creative director and head writer, Ken Levine, explains the philosophy and politics behind this shooter
Ken Levine: 'BioShock Infinite is a story that’s much more dynamic'
It's a strange sensation, preparing for an interview with Ken Levine. Whereas most interviews with developers in the gaming industry usually revolve around game mechanics and technological innovations, the questions aimed at Irrational's creative director usually involve the story for his new game BioShock Infinite. Levine's last game, you see, used high-end literature as source material and immersed players in a world that posed political, philosophical and social questions, while bombarding the player with bullets and boss battles.
BioShock, was one of the best games in the year it was released. In it players took on the role of the only survivor of a plane crash in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean who found himself transported to the undersea city of Rapture. There, they found a society founded on the Objectivist worldview of an industrialist named Andrew Ryan, which had torn itself apart through addiction and madness. BioShock's story was based on Ayn Rand's novel, Atlas Shrugged, but it drew on her philosophies for a lot of its narrative thrust and built a convincing argument against them. In this commentator's opinion, it's the best story told in gaming in the last decade.
Levine's newest project, BioShock Infinite has already started tongues wagging in the gaming community. It's the story of an ex-Pinkerton detective named Booker DeWitt and his quest to save a mysterious woman named Elizabeth in a floating city called Columbia. Built as a monument to American superior know-how, Columbia is a city at war with itself, with the left-leaning Vox Populi group squaring off against the nationalist Founder faction. DeWitt and Elizabeth are caught between the two in their attempts to escape the city, as well as the attentions of a terrifying beast called Song Bird.
It all sounds impressively tantalising, but as Levine points out, BioShock Infinite's story isn't the only aspect of his game that is bursting with ideas.
How close to conclusion is BioShock Infinite's development cycle?
All we've said so far is that it's coming out next year.
So you can't tell us whether it's been topped and tailed in terms of its plot or its gameplay?
(Laughs) No, no, no! We're deep into it, is what I'll say. Very, very deep into it.
So when did the ideas and the creative sessions for BioShock Infinite start percolating?
Basically around February of 2008. We really struggled for about six months after BioShock to figure out what was next for us as a company. We prototyped a few things and we weren't very happy with a lot of things that we were working on. It was sort of unintuitive to take BioShock and do something really different with it, although that's the most natural thing people think about when they think about a sequel. Once we had the idea for it we became incredibly excited and started running with it.
The first thing we came up with was the time period. Then everything followed that – the city in the sky came soon after and then much, much later came the concept of Columbia and the conception of American exceptionalism.
When we started, a lot of the artists on the game were reading a book called The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson, which is about the building of the 1893 World Fair in Chicago. They turned me on to that and we became really drawn to that period. I felt that book did a really great job of giving a feel for what was happening in the USA at the time and we drew a lot of inspiration from that.
You said in an interview that BioShock is the story of Andrew Ryan, a man who asks, "is a man not entitled to the sweat from his brow". Is there a similar character or central belief system you would say that dominates BioShock Infinite in the same way?
You know, there are several characters that exert a massive influence on BioShock Infinite. There's Comstock, who is the leader of the Founders, and Daisy Fitzroy, who is the leader of the Vox Populi rebel movement in the city. We haven't said too much about those two characters yet, though, I think primarily, because a lot of that space is filled up by Booker and Elizabeth. [In BioShock] we didn't have a character who had a personality or spoke and he certainly didn't have someone walking with him with a driving narrative.
In Infinite, Booker and Elizabeth are trapped between larger forces. But more than that, they're the catalyst for the growth of the conflict that happens in Columbia. In BioShock, when the player arrives, the party's already over and you're looking at the remnants. In Columbia, it's fairly stable when you arrive. It has a lot of underlying problems that are very easily brought to the surface; you saving Elizabeth from captivity acts as the catalyst that sets everything in motion and causes a lot of the conflict in the city. When the player arrives, the Vox Populi are just a rag-tag band of people and it's your and Elizabeth's actions that put them in a position where they can take on the Founders.
Can we go in to any further detail on that?
(Laughs) No, but the really important thing here is that BioShock Infinite is a story that's much more dynamic. As you take action you'll see the changes that Booker and Elizabeth bring to the world.
There was a hint of that in the demo at E3. As Elizabeth and Booker were walking around Columbia, the Vox Populi were attacking people, and a couple of them hurled insults at the player. Are you saying that if you attack one of them you can strange the structure of a level somewhat?
Look, there's content on that level and some of that content would change obviously. There's a part where one of the Vox Populi pushes a guy down the stairs. If you put a bullet in him before that happens, that part would change. The guy won't get pushed down the stairs and you'll end up in a fight with some other members of the Vox Populi.
There's also moment where one guy squares up to you and threatens Elizabeth [in the same level] and you put your gun on him and he gives you the finger and walks off. Brilliant voice actor, by the way, who plays that part. It was me!
Really? It didn't sound like you.
Yeah. They modified my voice.
That would be your Hitchcock moment then?
That's right! I always make one small appearance.
Anyway, you never know exactly how things are going to go in the game. There are a lot of characters in the game that you'll have to walk the line with. They might not be attacking you immediately, but you might be getting set up for something really bad.
You won't always know how to react to characters in your environment and I think that's a pretty interesting dynamic that you don't see a lot in shooters. Usually, in shooters, you see someone and you shoot them before they shoot you.
It's a dynamic we had in BioShock to some degree with the Big Daddys and Little Sisters. We wanted a scenario where the player would go "okay, how do I approach this?" There's a bit of education you need for that. When we were working on BioShock, the first people we gave a controller to acted the same way any gamer would act when they first saw a Big Daddy in a game: they started shooting at it. We had to very carefully make clear that wasn't the best way to deal with a Big Daddy; the gameplay was all about setting up for that big fight rather than just going in guns blazing.
We had to educate people a lot, which is counter-intuitive to the real world because, for example, you don't have to educate people in the real world not to shoot their neighbours … generally. You'd hope. But there are some things that are intuitive in games that are counter-intuitive in real life and vice versa.
So do you think a lot of the heavy lifting in BioShock Infinite with regards to that aspect has been done by BioShock?
No. I don't think you can ever assume that. People forget; they're not seeing a Big Daddy in the new game so they won't immediately make that connection. I think for some of the hardcore fans – if they're really tuned in to what we're doing with the previews – maybe that would be true. But as a developer you can never count on that.
American hegemony is a driving theme in BioShock Infinite. Is there much of an overlap with that and the objectivism that informed the world in BioShock?
I don't think I agree with that. Objectivism wasn't necessarily attached to the United States in any particular way except that Ayn Rand happened to live there and it matched, as close as it could at the time, her principles and her philosophy. She was very unhappy with a lot of things, though – the New Deal for example is something she found utterly repulsive.
I think all philosophies, when they're taken to an extreme and are embraced by people who have shut out reality because it contradicts their beliefs, pose a very significant threat. It becomes a case where you're not sure who's running the show here. Is it the philosophy or the world? You see it in a lot of systems. Take the Stalinist system, for example: when reality didn't contort to fit with a worldview, that meant reality had to change. People had to be taken out of pictures and history rewritten to block them out completely.
In some ways BioShock Infinite seems weirdly prescient. The Founders almost sound like the Tea Party politicians in the States with the Vox Populi taking the part of the Occupy movement.
I think as a very amateur student of history, though, you understand that these sorts of movements are very common. There have been dozens and dozens of these kinds of movements over the course of history. I mean, look at the turn of the century. In 1894, anarchists assassinated a French president. The US president McKinley was assassinated in 1901. In 1900 the Italian king was assassinated. Then, of course, you have Archduke Ferdinand assassinated in 1914 and we all know what happened after that.
You have these movements throughout history like the hard left Baader-Meinhof group or extreme nationalist like the John Birch Society or the Know Nothings in the 1800s. You have nationalist verses internationalist as a theme come up over and over again and I'm not surprise, given the current economic climate, that it's happening again now. Hopefully it won't get as extreme as what happens in Infinite. But the roots are there in any sort of crisis where people try to express their anger at a situation.
Given that the driving force behind Columbia in BioShock Infinite is American nationalism, how would a faction like the Vox Populi rise up? Wouldn't they have been ultra-nationalists to begin with?
Well, generally, when you have a push towards one extreme, that's going to have an affect on people that aren't part of that extreme. You'll create a situation where there are affluent native-borns who will start saying that they're what you have to be to have a real place in society. Naturally, those people who aren't like that will start getting frustrated.
In Columbia, when you arrive, a lot of those seeds are there. Booker and Elizabeth accelerate the conflict with their actions. I'm not going to go into too much detail about that, though. But take a look at one example in the form of the Baader-Meinhof group in Germany. That started off as a student protest against the Shah of Iran visiting West Berlin where one of the students was killed by the authorities. Then the students reacted, then the government reacted and one reaction provokes another and suddenly everyone's initial positions have become obscured. It almost becomes like a pendulum affect.
Did you plan BioShock Infinite and BioShock to be a way to examine the flaws in belief systems and political movements?
I think we're really fascinated by unintended consequences and good intentions that go haywire. You see that on a small scale in the demo where she tries to use her powers to revive a horse the results are catastrophic. Even the best intentions can have horrible results. I think that's a key theme in the franchise really.
Andrew Ryan had this great idea right? A man's entitled to the sweat from his brow – who would argue with that? But then you take that idea and extend it and you wind up in Rapture. What I tried to do, having read Ayn Rand, was to create Galt's Gulch and stick real people in it. Rand populated Galt's Gulch with perfect people.
Of course they all got on and their philosophy worked perfectly because only one person was setting the rules – her! I wanted to look at a scenario where nature set the rules and people's personalities set the rules and I think in that instance, you'd end up with something that looks more like Rapture. The more utopian you get and the more you follow a particular ideology, which can't bend to reality, the more fragile a social system becomes.
So are your games an indictment of dogmatically held beliefs?
I wouldn't say they're an indictment. I think BioShock and BioShock Infinite are more a reflection of my own ambivalence about people's certainties. I don't feel very certain about a lot of things – particularly in the political spectrum. The older I get the less I know and the less certainty I have. I think these characters such as Booker and Elizabeth and even Jack in the first BioShock are avatars of my own certainty in that they're people who are stuck in the middle of these very rigid elements and they become crushed. They can't really turn to either side and they don't really have a place in those systems.
And yet they have the biggest impact on the worlds they are thrust into.
Well, I think the people who have the biggest impact in societies are people who have the most flexibility.
The very nature of science, for example, is flexibility – it's the data that drives you. I think that's why science has had such an impact socially over the last 200 years – by that I mean the scientific method, which welcomes uncertainty and welcomes the unknown.
The scientific method is a way of structuring uncertainty in a way that makes it more palatable and understandable. You're telling people something quite counter-intuitive. It's okay to not know. It's better not to know than to think you do know and you're wrong. That's why the scientific method is, way more than any particular discovery in science, the most important scientific discovery because it gave the framework on how to pursue questions.
