GamerNode: Columns - Is E3 Still Gameplay Focused?

Is E3 Still Gameplay Focused?

This year, I watched Steven Spielberg and James Cameron appear on stage at E3, to talk about both Microsoft Natal and Avatar respectively. They spoke of storytelling, of film, of true narrative and how it can be applied to videogames in a way that will engage on the same mental and emotional level as the latest summer blockbuster. The prospect of someone coming onstage at E3 and actually saying "gameplay isn't everything there is" was shocking, and something that filled me with the same warm happy feeling most people get when they realise they've finally finished the achievements for LEGO Batman.

I am by no means a gaming ninja: I found Ninja Gaiden 2 fairly tricky at times on an average difficulty, and I played Bioshock on "easy" the first time round because it was my first console FPS in aeons, not to mention I suck at games that involve anything creepy, usually being too jumpy to nail that headshot (excuses, excuses, I know). But I consider myself above average for the most part, and thus I find gameplay is extremely important to me, not to mention the fact that if I would ever want to have a thousand enemy ships on maximum difficulty shooting lasers made of death in all directions, I can do so. I need the ability to challenge myself.

However, whilst this works for Geometry Wars, this is also an incredibly bad way of constructing a game that isn't something you pick up and play for a few minutes at a time. Titles like LittleBigPlanet and the aforementioned Geometry Wars, even WarioWare, are simply tempting morsels of digital entertainment, designed to keep us pacified without drawing us into a complex narrative on a Friday night. But when it comes to a summer blockbuster where we're inundated with the latest graphics, gameplay mechanics and a torrent of quick-time events, do I want gameplay, or story? For that matter, why are we always choosing?

This year, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories shocked a lot of people who came to preview the title. To have a psychologist question your sexual history, to have a game question the player in the same way Eternal Darkness questioned your sanity, is true horror. No longer are we relying on what lies inside that UMD for inspiration to terror; we are now the pawn of some larger game, and our personality may define what comes next. Avatar was also another game extremely focused on storyline, though with James Cameron's detailed (read: spoiler-laden) explanation of the film's plot, you'd be hard-pressed not to yawn and wonder why he bothered telling you there was a decent story at all. But that was the point. There was a decent story, and the only way to get the E3 press audience to focus on something that isn't QTEs and jiggle physics is to force them to sit down and listen to a good old fireside tale.

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