Is Dante’s Inferno a step forward or backward?
September 23rd, 2009Every time I read about Dante’s Inferno I have conflicting feelings about it. Having only read about it, there are aspects of it that I both admire and question. In this way, I wonder whether Dante’s Inferno is actually a step forward or backward for the game industry as a whole. Here are some points I’ve been considering:
Possible Step Forward
- Dante’s Inferno is based on classic literature, which is very rare in video games but actually very common in other established artistic media such as movies and plays. The more video games can act as an artistic vessel for “classic” stories the more relevant and artistically accepted video games can become.
- The developers seem to be taking the source material very seriously at least as far as the description of Hell (the plot is obviously different). You can get a sense of this in this development diary.
- Related to keeping to the source material, the developers are absolutely pushing the boundaries of a “mature” subject-matter, both graphically and thematically. The game includes dead unbaptized babies as enemies, and just reading Kotaku’s new preview of the “Lust” level makes me wonder whether the game will even make it out in its current form. If its disgusting just to read about I can only imagine how the presentation to the ESRB will go (and, unfortunately, the ESRB has an enormous amount of power right now to basically censor games since no publisher will publish an AO rated game).
On the other hand…
Possible Step Backward
- Aside from being an adaptation of a classic poem, the gameplay Dante’s Inferno is apparently extremely derivative of the God of War series with button for button translations of basically the entire God of War arsenal. There aren’t many (read “any”) games that have been able to get the God of War formula down as well as the original, and even if Dante’s Inferno manages to do a good job of mimicking it, from the sound of it, it doesn’t sound like they’ve even put their own spin on the game. And no, a “re-skin” does not count as a new “spin”.
- Are they developers taking the source material seriously or just using it as an excuse to push the boundaries of taste? Is Dante’s Inferno the videogame equivalent of “torture porn”? Is EA just trying to cash in on putting a bunch of nudity and over-the-top violence in playable form, not to mention the potential controversy it could generate (and not just the fake kind)?
I find myself interested in how the game turns out, not only because I like the God of War games, but also because I’m curious as to which side of the spectrum it ends up on.
Posted in Etc, Jeff, PS3, Xbox 360 |
September 26th, 2009 at 8:52 am
I was about to post on this myself… I would recommend this short Joystiq post for the simple reason that the poster (Ross Miller) actually recognizes how crass the game appears. http://www.joystiq.com/2009/09/25/tgs-2009-hands-on-with-dantes-inferno-in-the-land-of-the-lust/
I’m fine with derivativeness, frankly - since it’s a PS3 exclusive, a clone for another console doesn’t seem out of line. I’m actually interested in the game, but delicate treatment is at least somewhat important when you’re dealing with these topics. I’m hoping for something more like Se7en than Hellraiser.
September 29th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
I felt about like you did prior to my reading your post, unsure of the nature of the game, it’s objectives, and it’s development focus. Now that I’ve read your post and answered your questions as I understand them, I think I know where I stand on this.
IMO
“Are they developers taking the source material seriously or just using it as an excuse to push the boundaries of taste?”
I think they are using the subject matter as a vehicle to out “god of war” God of War. Aside from being a good game, God of War achieved some notoriety for brutal violence and visuals punctuated by full frontal nudity and debatably over-sexualized content. I think they are right to assume that any game that intends to compete with GoW, also has to compete on these fronts as well.
Is Dante’s Inferno the videogame equivalent of “torture porn”?
This may be a bit of a stretch but I think you have the right idea. At the very least it’s highly exploitative.
Is EA just trying to cash in on putting a bunch of nudity and over-the-top violence in playable form,
Almost certainly. Although the use of the word “just” is probably overstating it. I honestly think they want to make a God of War clone to try to hit that market. I’m sure some bean counter somewhere recognized that there was a hole in the demographics of their portfolio allowing gamers who like games like God of War to slip through EAs fingers. Once they decided they needed to make the game, I think they then made the decision that over the top violence, nudity, and sexualized content would be helpful in achieving their sales goals. I wonder if they chose Dante’s Inferno before or after they made this decision. I honestly think they decided they wanted a highly exploitative game and they they had to seek out “appropriate” subject matter.
“not to mention the potential controversy it could generate”
Absolutely.
Now, even though I sound negative on this game, I’m really not. I think that while what EA may be doing is somewhat boorish, it’s certainly within their rights. My biggest gripe is that it is really just lazy and games like this tend to “talk down to” gamers by making boobs and blood the focus when they could be doing so much more with this type of deep/weighty subject matter. I lament the fact that developers/publishers go this route to sell games. I’m further saddened by the fact that it generally works.
And yeah, I’m not too concerned about derivative gameplay, as I feel that’s pretty much the rule, rather than the exception.
January 3rd, 2010 at 5:00 am
Personally i see nothing wrong with this. Just look at society today. Theres boobs in just about everything. I believe that nudity nowadays is much more socially acceptable and i see nothing wrong with it. i think “torture porn” is taking it way too far. just because there is nudity does not make it pornographic. famous paintings during the times of da vinci had nudity, as a matter of fact, most paintings were done in the buff, and is that considered porn? no…it is not. if you would just take a minute and think about it. think about where you are. youre in hell for crying out loud. i think that the twisted scenes are very befitting of a story such as this. all im really saying is, a few boobs never hurt anyone. its not like they have people having sex all over the place. and if its about the kids seeing it, they shouldnt be playing games that are over the rating of T anyway. it is sad that they are making this yet another god of war clone…but i see great potential in this game. as a big fan of the divine comedy i will definitely get this game. and to say that they are using the tits to get more sales…i dont buy that at all. its called Keeping it REAL! THIS IS HELL WERE TALKING ABOUT. i personally think, that if i were to go to hell right now, im pretty sure people wouldnt be wearing clothes. people would be suffering, and yes people would be naked. if you read the book, even the illustrations have nudity. i think the nudity, (even though there really isnt alot of it. 2 boobed characters that i know of) the vomiting unbaptized babies, the twisted looking monsters, all make the atmosphere seem more realistic. you think they made vomiting babies and a few tits in this game to strike a little controversy!? BS. the tits were predetermined when the freakin book was written. so stop complaining about the tits. were adults here. so let EA have its tits in its game, stop complaining because nothing will come of it. the game will be published, its being released February 9 2010. i dont think it will get many sales tho. all the people who are pissed about the tits and the fact that it plays like god of war wont buy it. but i will buy this game, ill buy it for the story, and the symbolism. Because the divine comedy was a great work, and i think the developers did a great job making Dante’s vision of hell come to life through this game.
January 3rd, 2010 at 2:38 pm
To clarify, when I use the term “torture porn”, it has nothing to do with “nudity”. It’s a term used to mean something like “excessive” or “gratuitous”. It’s more to do with appealing to some base emotion than simply “nudity”. Most people describe the Saw films as “torture porn”.
Now, in Dante’s Inferno’s case, the nudity may actually be on the gratuitous level (after playing the demo it seems that way). That doesn’t necessarily mean its bad or even inappropriate in its context either… but, it’s probably not exactly the kind of higher art that you seem to think the game will represent. And for the record, I’m still looking forward to the game.