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1. More than Games
   

   Player Chronicle -- Posted on Aug 31 2009

   More than Games
   
   
   Dead Pixels
   08-31-09
   By Ryan M. Eft
   
   I’m a diehard Final Fantasy fan. I’m not so diehard that I buy all the horrible spinoffs they pump out these days, but the central series is my video game Mecca. Today, I am witness to kids who not only have every gaming system, but who have every gaming system for every child in the family. But when I was younger, video games were a privilege, not a right. I never had more than one system from any given generation, and for a long time I never got more than one or two games every few months. When I did get a game, it was pretty typically a Final Fantasy game, or a Zelda entry.
   
   The result was that I grew up with a taste for storytelling and atmosphere in my games (and a resultant general dislike of short, linear games of the kind I’d have played when I was very young).
   
   This only intensified when I had money to buy my own games with. If I was going to spend a day’s pay on a video game, that video game had better be damned amazing. When the credits rolled, I wanted to have become invested in that game beyond the usual “Man, I got so many kills!” Final Fantasy filled that role (pun intended) perfectly, usually leaving me with plenty to think about after it was done with.
   
   At the time, no one could do that like Square could. But as the years rolled on, other developers began to step in to fill the often lengthy void between major Square Soft or Nintendo releases. While I was being amazed by Chrono Cross, I would have scoffed had you told me that, only a few years down the road, things like Bioshock and Suikoden III and Grand Theft Auto IV would be regular occurrences, creating amazingly deep experiences out of any number of genres, giving us experiences I once thought reserved solely for RPGs.
   
   Today, the linear, twitch shooter may not exactly be on the outs. But experiences a little juicier are also not difficult to find, and they even exist in the once totally maligned world of licensed gaming, as witnessed recently in Batman: Arkham Asylum.
   All this, most of the people reading the column already know. I merely point it out to emphasize the point, which is: despite all the wealth of games available, it remains a chore to find the products associated with them.
   
   Take soundtracks. Nobuo Uematsu knocked the classic soundtracks from FF games out of the park, but if anyone on this side of the pond wanted them, they’d have to import them. Hell, they still have to import them; I’ve yet to see a brand spanking new copy of any Square soundtrack available in an American store.
   
   They would sell; the amount of people who do import them proves that. Stack them next to the counter at dedicated game shops, and watch them fly. Bioshock made its orchestral score free to download, but the full soundtrack is still something you have to scavenge for. From the stirring opening of Metal Gear Solid to the peaceful closing melodies of Zelda, acquiring music from games is worth achievement points in and of itself.
   
   Music is only a part of the equation. I can’t help but wondering why getting my hands on production books, background materials, and whatnot for even the crappiest of movies is exceedingly easy to do at the local Barnes and Noble, while if I want the same thing from a game, I’ve got to spin a roulette wheel. Will GameStop maybe have a mini-art book to give away? Maybe the “special edition” of the guide will have one included, like Assassin’s Creed and Mass Effect did?
   
   More often than not, though, if you’re interested in the making of a game, in the art and passion that went into, say, the stunning vistas of a God of War, you’re going to be downloading little snippets of art online or trying to scrounge up developer interviews. Why this should be, when the scope of a game can usually reach far beyond that of a film, escapes me.
   
   I know this isn’t exactly the most pressing issue facing the gaming nation today. I also know I’m not the only one who would be willing to pay a reasonable amount of money to go “beyond the game” as I’m sure it would all be called.
   
   Not every game deserves this treatment, of course. But those exceptional releases that do don’t tend to get it. The closest we get is special editions that may include a tiny art book containing a fraction of what went into the game, or maybe five tracks of music, or possibly a hastily cobbled together “behind-the-scenes” disc. We don’t really get the full package. Maybe this will change, maybe it won’t. But for now, when I really get invested in a game, it still feels like I’m only getting access to half the experience.

   
   

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