10) Flora and Aura

In trying to develop a case of how some video games can become popular over others, I have come across an example of a game that is an exception to the trends in the current electronic market. This missing piece, surprisingly, is what makes this game a unique masterpiece.

The missing piece I'm referring to is a story. Although there is little explanation for the setting of this game, it is open to whatever interpretation you want to slap on it.

I am talking about NEOTOKYO(http://www.neotokyohq.com/index.html). A Half-Life 2 modification with more than 4 years of development put into it. It tells the story of a future dystopian Tokyo, in which a shadow war is being fought in the back alleys of the capital of Japan. It depicts a conflict between the future Japanese GSDF against the NSF, a special counter-terrorism unit under the command of the prime minister.

So we have a setting. What we do not have is a centralized plot to what we are playing. And that's just it. We don't need a story. This future Japan we are playing in is filled with a unique visual style that encompasses everything, from billboards to cars.

I draw attention to this because I have decided to document some of the real life aspects that have been put into this game. The images seen that make you believe you are actually THERE. I'm referring to some of the advertisements. I've added their real life counterparts into the following images for comparison purposes:

(I'm guessing this last one was in the interest of not getting sued.)

My point is that some games can be better than others, even if they are missing an element of what would easily define them as a 'video game'. However, the developers of such a game must execute this style correctly and carefully.

If you have Steam, and a copy of Half-Life 2, I urge you to check this out. If not for the gameplay or graphics, then for the visual style not seen in recent years.

http://www.neotokyohq.com/index.html

6) When Guevara met McCarthy.

Anyone who has ever used the internet in the past few months will know what I am talking about when I speak of online advertising.

It comes up in many forms, including, but not limited to; popups, web banners, spam e-mail, etc. Most of the time it is just plain annoying. It is so common that you no longer recognize the main ones, especially if you see them over and over again on a website you visit often. Accidentally hover your mouse over one? Yeah I want to start shooting the computer too.

This brings me to my conceptual metaphor of "Capitalist Fascism". The main and chosen few who control all the wealth decide to form a party to oppress the people. They bombard them with propaganda, and other acts to prove their loyalty to the people and to demand the same in return. They control the one thing that can be used to manipulate people: Money.

The propaganda I use in this example is the online advertising. It is the rich CEOs demanding your loyalty and obedience to the their up and high class(or party) of wealthy individuals consumed with utter greed.

Can you blame them? Of course not. As everyone is in pursuit of survival and happiness, wealth just happens to be one of those things to nirvana. Everybody wants it, everybody needs it.

Truth is, in this economy, acts of generosity are extremely rare and valued. And if conditions might allow it, the path we tread may lead to Karl Marx's Communist Revolution. If I had said that forty years ago, I might be dead right about...now.

Then again, what do I know? I'm just another equality loving socialist who believes in an achievable utopia.

I'd like to thank Fate for the First Amendment.