Obsidian

From New Reno to New Vegas

Martyn Zachary Leave a comment

Notice: Don’t forget to check out our latest update to this post, “The New Vegas Fallout“!

Thanks to Bethesda’s ingenious assessment of the gaming market in first pushing out the Oblivion-style Fallout 3 to an established player base (fans of the original are known to be a bit on the grumpy and sour side, for good reason too, and therefore harder to market to), it’s not at all difficult to get a strong double act vibe from the very latest screenshots of Obsidian’s Fallout: New Vegas.

Taking on some geographical and narrative cues from the unreleased Van Buren project, the game seems tailor-made for the fans of the original RPGs, these rather eccentric shots (do check out those psychedelic super mutant shades on the left) also suggest that the game looks to be playing the stooge to Fallout 3’s straighter man.

The comedy act parallel doesn’t end there: Chris Avellone, lead designer of New Vegas, is also responsible for the New Reno area of Fallout 2, a sprawling, teeming mob haven that players could complete at their own pace – and become prizefighting champions and porn stars while doing so. At the time of release, however, the area drew some criticism from fans of the original, mostly for being overly colourful and idiosyncratic. An Edge interview with Avellone acknowledges this fact:

…Avellone’s contributions to Fallout 2 – most notably the entire, Mafia-controlled city of New Reno, with its bountiful side-quests and other distractions – were warmly welcomed, even if some Fallout zealots considered them tonally out-of-step. 1)http://www.edge-online.com/magazine/chris-avellone-dark-knight

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Avataritis

Martyn Zachary 18 Comments

There’s a condition spreading rather like wildfire in the gaming medium – and no, it’s not a strain of the influenza. The latest game to fall prey to this affliction is Obsidian’s Alpha Protocol:

“Michael Thornton is you. He’s been specifically designed as a blank canvas; a host for your own personality and playing style.” 1)http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=223828

The "Original"
The "Original"

This is avataritis, or, the video game industry’s highly emotional, pandemic response to finding the easiest, most efficient solution to the very unique dilemma presented by its ever-widening player base. Leigh Alexander framed the problem appropriately – though in relation to difficulty – a mere week ago at Gamasutra: “the concept of ‘everything for everyone’ won’t help.”

Now, to offend half the blogosphere offhand: For the purpose of this article, we will consider avatar customization a convenient narrative cop-out. We shall also assume that no mechanisms are in place stopping developers from writing and designing heterogeneous yet fully structured, narrative-based computer games with carefully constructed and immutable, unchangeable characters.

Therefore, the current rat race for the best, most customizable avatar shall thus be perceived an abhorrent one, damaging to the maturing and growth of the narratives in video games. (Obviously, there are occasions wherein the “tabula rasa” scenario is a fully motivated one, either by its ludic or narrative function, but assuming this to be a default state to be aspired to seems ultimately misguided beyond the MMO.)

The remaining half, then, shall also be offended as we sequence into a discussion of the representation of ethnic (and other) minorities. I’m not going to discuss these themes directly, instead drawing attention to how egalitarian, census-oriented game criticism and research sometimes intentionally avoids the more literary functions and realities of video gaming narratives.

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