In the circles of analysis, a major game's release is often heralded with the question, "will this be 'Gaming's Citizen Kane?'" The most recently I've seen this frequent question raised is at Michael Abbott's Brainy Gamer - where he concedes that measuring gaming's star chart to that of a much older medium is a flawed comparison.And it is, of course, for all the reasons Abbott cites: It's not 1915. Gaming is young compared to every other entertainment medium. The experience of games and films have never been, and will never be, really comparable. Apples and oranges. But the "Citizen Kane" question, I think, comes out of a larger issue for games that is still worth looking at.
What title, to the game industry, will represent our decades of learning and experimentation? What title, in the macro image, will we look back upon to say, "there - that's when gaming really arrived"?
Because we're not satisfied, not for the long-term. Because we're not really there yet, because we've begun to show we can go there, and we've begun to take our baby steps, but we've still a long way to go. Some titles have opened the door, have pointed the way. I'd say BioShock, which made people outside of game devotees consider a video game as a philosophical tool, was one such title - although I have to agree with Tim Rogers when he says that this is not some singular, great feat, merely the least we should expect.
And I've just gotten done being interviewed by a major media outlet about Metal Gear Solid 4, and that there is an interest level there for its relatively sophisticated themes is significant. I'm in my second playthrough of MGS 4, in part because I want to play a cleaner game the second time through, in part because I need a second look to really chisel in my final critical opinion - and in large part because since finishing it I have missed its characters, I have loved them, and I just need to be with them a little bit more.
This level of love, this emotional familiarity, this reverence for a game is not new to me - but this is a first for me in terms of feeling it to this degree of permanence, strength, a chest-wrenching fondness I still feel even when the sting of newness' spank has faded.
It's the first time something in a game's ending has surprised, delighted and pained me so abruptly that I wept loudly, open-mouthed, when it occurred.
And yet, I must agree with Abbott and some others that Metal Gear Solid 4 is not, alas, "gaming's Citizen Kane" - yes, for the purposes of discussion we are inferring an analogous, if not directly comparable event is possible.
I'll tell you why tomorrow.
