IDC 4O - Media Studies

Pong (1972)      When I was a young boy, fresh to the world of video games and well-equipped with a single copy of Wii Sports, my dad had explained to me the concept of (what he had called) the first video game: a tennis game named Pong. He had explained to me that this game had incredibly simple controls and was a two player game. Now, as a child who had been spoiled with the visually superior graphics of Wii Sports, I had had high hopes for Pong. In my mind, it resembled something close to what I later discovered to be Tennis for the NES: This, in my young mind, was the most primitive game that I could imagine      So, imagine my surprise when some years later I was introduced to the REAL Pong, in all of it's glory: Gorgeous.      Now, in modern times, I know better. I know that my expectations were set way too high for one of the most simplistic and basic video games known to man, and I can accept that. Pong has a pla...

Detective Comics #27 (Starting this Issue: the Amazing and Unique Adventures of The Batman!)  I am the night.      80 years, seven standalone movies, eight television series and countless comic books later, the Batman certainly has come a long way from his 8-page debut in May of 1939. While he may have evolved into the iconic brooding character that we know and love today, Batman's modern form is a result of hundreds of individual changes and adaptations from swaths of artists and creators who have put their own flair into the character over time. In his very first appearance in that fateful issue of Detective Comics, Batman himself feels like a gimmick and a sticks out like a sore thumb. Primitive Batman still needs to find his superhero sea legs      My biggest issue with this issue (haha get it?) is the major tonal shift that happens as soon as the Batman finally shows up. The comic here starts with a quite typical detective setup (w...

Pac Man (1980)      As a game, Pac-Man is an incredibly well-designed masterpiece, iconic and influential to video games in countless ways. At it's core, Pac-Man is an incredibly simple and accessible to people of all ages; it's controlled only with the joystick and before you even start controlling Pac-Man he's already eating dots and teaching the player how to play. The ghosts are obviously the bad guys, and the only remaining element on the screen, the giant Pac-Dots, can be experimented with with little risk on the first level. The game teaches the player and within seconds, anyone can pick up and play the game due to this simplicity. Designed to be simple.      Now, the dangers of making a game simple is that it risks becoming monotonous and boring after a couple of levels. The layout of the board never actually changes, so the only real variety that comes with each level is the fruits that show up for bonus points. The game SHOULD get bo...

Black Mirror: S3E4 "San Junipero"      No matter what age you are, I feel like death is always a weird thing to think about. Although it's typically reserved for the elderly, death is an all-encompassing and unavoidable part of life than can really affect anyone at any given moment. As a teenager, it's easy for me to forget this; I typically only associate death with old people, and (although this may seem heartless) I don't usually feel that sad when the elderly die-- I always assume that they had lived fulfilling lives which simply had to come to a natural conclusion. As a result, I've built this disconnect between myself and people beyond their golden years; it's fine that they die because that's just what old people do. Death is just one of...The Facts of Life      I don't think this revelation is entirely my own fault. I have very rarely seen old people humanized in media, and whenever I see older characters they're typically ...

            When we first got into this game, I wasn’t sure how I felt about the hyper realistic details of the characters. They obviously didn’t look human, and even though the graphics were just imperfect enough to kind of strike that into that uncanny valley line, I thought it worked for the androids, who purposely mimic human behaviour. Unfortunately, minus their mannerisms, the humans and androids are basically indistinguishable, which does not bode well for the equally uncanny valley human beings. It’s almost perfect, but not quite. Although I typically prefer stylized graphics (since I think in general they age better [see: cartoony Legend of Zelda Wind Waker vs dated Twilight Princess, which both came out on GameCube around the same time]) I feel like they would clash with the grittier realism that the story tries to portray. It’s also harder to be scary (see Zlatik from Toy Story and his monstrosity machin...

I think it’s incredibly fair for Detroit: Become Human to have an M Rating. It deals with heavy themes, including lots of violence and murder (somehow in every character’s arc but especially in Connor’s, the literal homicide investigator), characters like Lieutenant Anderson who swear constantly, signs of alcoholism and drug use (whatever Red Ice), and domestic abuse (including both child and elder abuse). The game also deals with heavy themes of identity along with intense and consequential decision making that younger audiences may not be…mature enough to handle. I don’t think this game would appeal to many kids or younger teens in the first place, and even though it doesn’t involve humans I think the junkyard scene would be traumatizing as well. I can’t imagine this game receiving anything less than a 17+ rating.