GameblurgKids Talking About the Future

I have a friend who simply can’t resist bad dialog. No matter how hard he tries, he can’t ignore the laughing sensation of shallow one-liners during a videogame’s epic action scenes, or some stereotypically corny “hero-line” during a game’s climax. And it doesn’t ruin anything for him. In fact, he enjoys it. “It’s awful,” he proclaims. “But although it’s bad, it’s a “funny” bad.”

At the time, I didn’t think I could hear anything dumber. Maybe it’s because I couldn’t figure out why something so stupid confused me. Does that make me stupid? Funny is bad. Bad is good? Should I try to make bad games with the hopes of them being “funny”?

Unfortunately, I might be guilty of the same shallow pleasure (admittedly, I am a big Vin Diesel fan). It’s interesting that not only my friend and I, but millions of other idiots like us enjoy similar garbage.

It’s just ironic (and a little disheartening) that we disregard our “standards” and ignore what a complete package is supposed to be just as long as there is one thing satisfying underneath the pretty bow and wrappings.

What’s more disheartening is how pretentious my approach was when addressing my friends’ opposing taste (no matter how moronic they may appear). Sometimes, you (or, I) forget that it’s okay to relax and just have fun enjoying a simple action sequence because of the spectacular visuals and forget about the aggravating glitches that may follow.

That’s the key: bad is acceptable for you when the good is overwhelming enough to blanket the bad. For example: Smooth and sleek gameplay mechanics (good) vs. Main character with a mullet (bad).

Sure mullets are well…mullets, but good gameplay is hard to come by so just ignore the fact that you’ve got it follow some moron around, staring at the back of his ridiculous mullet for 10 hours.

Take this Bayonetta magazine advert for instance:

To a fan of the upcoming game, the logo alone is enough to spark a smile, but thanks to the Sega’s Public Relations department, the stale line “I just dropped by to say die.” is completely accepted and/or ignored. The horrendous copy is irrelevant to those who begin to drool over the pretty pictures and the game’s release date.

Could it be that every once in a while, it’s perfectly fine to hop off of our high horse (when no one’s watching) and indulge in our guilty pleasures (reading/watching Twilight, humming Miley Cyrus tunes in your place of work)?

Deep down, we all love to enjoy our own version of cheap, trashy fun (enter dirty girl/clean girl analogy here) on a level that doesn’t require serious thought.

It’s revelations like these that almost make me want to learn how to create terrible games on purpose. Almost. It would be a purely for the money though. Who needs pride when you have Vin Diesel?

Edit: Kenneth just sent me a link to this trailer for Dante’s Inferno. Skip to the end of the video and you’ll have a beautiful example of what we’re discussing here.

Related posts:

1. The Blind Date