As a lot of you may know the true "timeline" of The Legend of Zelda has surfaced, revealing the continuity many of the games shared but were unclearly touched upon. After I read this timeline I began thinking and reflecting on the Zelda games that touched my life most: Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess. Majora's Mask being my favorite, it amused me to find out that these were considered to actually be connected in continuity. But what drew me in to these games so much? After much thought I realized it, sympathy. The hero of time is always alone, dies alone and will serve his purpose alone.

Now before you hardcore fan jump on me let me explain my logic piece by piece. The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of time is a classic title that we all know and love. The characters and the dungeons filled most of our childhood for hours and it was a quest of ages. The story of a young boy fighting for whats good to connect the people of hyrule and destroy a great evil...kinda like the unity feeling in Star Trek.... The recently released time line states that there are three endings in the end of that game. Lets focus on the middle one, the one where link defeats Ganon and creeps away from Hyrule. Here is where the loneliness begins.



As Ocarina of Time begins it tells you of one boy who does not have a fairy. He is teased and thought of as different from everyone else, because in the culture he grew up in of the Kokiri a fairy comes naturally to the inhabitants and one never came to him. The Guardian spirit, the great deku tree has to command a fairy, Navi to help link save Hyrule. That is an important factor, Navi never chose Link, Navi was told to help him. Now the rest of the quest, one can argue is one where Link gains friends and changes lifes, and while changing lives is a true point, the friend concept is deluded. Every deep and personal friend Link gets is one he cannot enjoy the company of. His childhood crush becomes a sage, his goron friend, the zora who had the hots for him, everyone of meaning is a person Link does not stay around. (Zelda I know doesnt go to the sage dimension but you can kinda assume with her being a princess Link can't hang around her.) At the very end of the tale, we see link deliver the master sword as navi floats away from him to the heavens, while at first this seemed satisfying to me as a gamer Ive grown to see this as a very depressing ending. There is no goodbye between the characters she simply leaves and Link walks away. The ending is one I debate as being depressing, Link cannot return to being a Kokiri because he is aware that he is not one. He stops ganondorf yes but if he already gained the triforce then he never meets any of the people who he changed the lives of so therefore he has no friends. He is alone in the world, a shallow empty victory.


We are then told that after the events of "The Ocarina of Time" Link is regarded as a true hero. (I guess from stopping Ganondorf via tattling??) However he "crept away from the land that made him a legend". "In search of an invaluable friend" We encounter Link, head lowered wandering aimlessly through the woods. It is at this point he becomes ambushed by two fairies and a skull kid who bring him to Termina and thus begins "Majora's Mask". Now many gamers hated Majora's Mask, its structure, its dark story. However I've come to realize Majora's Mask while dark in tone is not meant to be a depressing story, it is a story about belonging, friendship and most importantly love. The game touches on many different kinds of love, the love a father has for his daughter, the love a village has for their most respected resident, the love between two young people who care for one another, and the love between dear friends.

The power of this story and what I've learned to be is what drew me to it is that it amplifies Link's loneliness. Link is accompanied by a fairy named Tatl who only accompanies him for fear of being alone and wanting to be reunited with her brother. Link is also aided by a mask salesman who teaches him a song to southe the souls of people in return for getting him a mask the skull kid, a possessed child forest spirit, stole. This song then encaptures that person's spirit and seals them into a mask, when Link wears the mask he becomes that being. Link is given three days to stop a Giant Moon that is being summoned by the Mask the skull kid stole by summoning the four protective giants of the land. Link passes through this tale as a ghost of sorts, every connection Link concretely makes with people is essentially a lie. He goes through towns and villages wearing the skin of the desceased to gain their trust, respect and admiration. However on his own, none of these people would care about him. All he can do is live lives of people who have experienced more love and a sense of belonging than he will ever know.

The end of the game has Link stopping the Skull Kid and Majora's plot to destroy the world via an impending moon that would crash and kill everyone. The cycle then resets and everything goes back to normal, the world is how it would be if Majora never showed up in the first place. Therefore just like in "Ocarina" the people you made deep connections with don't even know you...not that they would....soul stealer..>_>. But you see the togetherness that everyone has that Link doesnt. The gorons are happy, the deku kingdom and monkies are friends, and the zora's tour successfully across the land. The two fairy siblings are united and even the skull kid and the giants strengthen their friendship. Link then leaves the land of Termina and although is remembered by the skullkid is never heard from again.

"Friends are a good thing to have huh?"

What happens next? Death. I hate to sound morbid but thats exactly what happened. Link wandered off and died alone, no one knew where he went and although he was imortalized as a legend what became of him no one knew. As far as the stories convinced he never found his invaluable friend, ultimately making Majoras Mask a story of dying alone. But there is a silver lining to this story perhaps. Following the timeline we know that Twilight Princess emerges from this same universe some time later...but what does that have to do with Link?



Twilight Princess is from the perspective of a new Link who must fight a Ganondorf that was sealed by the hero of time, the same hero in the two aforementioned games. He can turn into a wolf and blah blah blah not important. In the course of the game while traversing Hyrule, Link encounters a glowing wolf that then lunges at him. The contact then knocks Link out unconscious.And he awakes to find a skeleton staring at him with its sword and shield drawn. It reveals itself to be the Link of Legend meaning not only does he speak, but you at least learn what became of him. He no longer wears the traditional garb and had clearly advanced to Adult age before death. But what happened in that time between one may never know. He has entrusted his soul into guiding the new heroes and that is about it. So we are left with the knowledge that Link never found his companions but he found purpose. Just like his friend he eventually gives up his soul to be something that helps ensure a greater future. And maybe in that sense Link found peace after all.

He god damn well better have writing this has made me very depressed.....

To those who are unfamiliar with "Resident Evil 5":

"Resident Evil 5" was a highly anticipated game that came out March 13th 2009 by developer Capcom. The story deals with a white male named Chris Redfield as he goes to investigate possible bio terrorist activities in Africa. Upon his arrival he meets his partner for this mission, an black female named Sheva Alomar. Together they fight for their lives to uncover the truth behind the bioterrorism plot and make those responsible pay. The game sets you on a linear path, forcing you to encounter various african residents infected with parasites that are constantly trying to kill you.


From the first teaser images

After the first initial trailers it was brought to the attention of the creators that some people found their game to be horribly racist. While no one had a defense stronger than, “it’s a white guy killing black guys” the makers still feared a negative response from gamers and critics alike. Therefore steps were taken to make the game seem less offensive and provide an enjoyable experience for anyone of any race who wished to play. A zombie survival horror game where no one would feel discriminated against, and we will all dance hand in hand in a sea of sunflowers.

...Yeah that last bit was sarcasm...

And now to my rant:

I do realize I am a little late to the party on this one. People have probably done and said their two cents on this subject, but I haven't, and I'll be damned if I'm not going to. “Resident Evil 5”, to me, was a game that had a lot of promise. Actually, deep inside itself it does live up to that promise, but it suffers from what has been added on to it. Most of these ideas were added on to defer racist accusations, others were just stupid new ideas. What these ideas ultimately did was shift the games genre. What was once intended to be a heart pounding terror plunge, inadvertently became just another shooter.

I will still admit a great game has been made, but it suffers from five key elements which stifle it. (And yes I will acknowledge the irony of my finding 5 faults with a game with the number 5 at the end.)My personal opinion is that if Capcom re-released "Resident evil 5" minus these five godawful things not only would it increase its experience ten-fold, it would make it good enough to be game of the year hands down. And here are the five:

5. Sunlight

This will sound funny coming out of a proud black person, but I was looking forward to “Resident Evil 5” on the pure fact that it's extremely hard to see black people at night. Thats not a racist self deprecating statement, it's true. If one stands outside on a pure black night looking at different races of people, it's easier for one's eyes to detect a white person better than a black person. It's a simple fact of life.

In the trailers leading up to the release, many clips were shown with the protagonist Chris Redfield being attacked by groups of black people in dark, barely lit areas, and this caught my attention. Imagine the scenario, being alone in a world where all your enemies can see you, but you can't see them. It should and would scare anyone shitless. Yet,as anyone who has played the finalized released game can tell you, that was not the case. For the vast majority of the game, when Chris is outside there is always sunlight or well lit. There are a few occasions, maybe ten minutes total of the entire game, of gameplay sequences in the dark. From cities to villages, and even caverns, every single area was well lit and ultimately damaged the immersive experience one could have had in darker settings.


Oh dear god just make it go away....

Kill the sun, shoot out some light bulbs, and its back to shit your pants-ville.

4. Certain People

I used to have a Game Trailers account, and I could not believe all the incredibly ignorant racist babble I heard over the inclusion of people who's skin tone weren't 100% black. I honestly didn't realize how incredibly stupid some internet gamers could be. Africa itself is a diverse continent. (Yes there are white people and muslims living there too, shockers to the uninformed) So the addition of white and islamic zombies to the game wasn't unwelcome, in fact it made it a more accurate depiction of Africa. And I will say I actually respected their decision to do that.

But that doesn't mean I still don’t think it was a dumb idea.

This only really bugged me because of how last minute it seemed. I'm not going to really point fingers, and act like I know what I'm talking about 100% because I don’t work for Capcom. For all I know it was their plan to do this from day one. But as a spectator of games and trailers I saw this as a last minute racism deterrent attempt that just comes off as random. Hell the only time you see white zombies is for maybe 1/7 of the game, if that.

I mean are you honestly telling me Wesker, series antagonist, respected black zombies so much he refused to have not even one white zombie worker on his ship? He wanted to help the black man back up after all the years of putting him down? Well then even if he's evil, god bless him for wanting to help out poor black zombies with work...i guess?


"Alpa and I are already wearin' Earth Mamma's natural night camo." - Kirk Lazarus

Don't fool yourselves, its a nice add but it's not needed.

3. The Item System

Oh yes the item system. Everyone's thrown their two cents in so I wont waste too much time on this part. When Capcom announced the item system it seemed badass....More or less because they didn't mention every single item took up one spot. (Including the armor your wearing W.T.F) In fact, the only thing Capcom really pointed out in the days towards it release was that the item selection didn't pause the game. So your adrenaline would be pumping as you try to heal yourself with enemies still chasing you.

Yeah, the anxiety your supposed to experience is not really possible when your annoying partner, Sheva is always there to shove a healing item down your throat. (Her healing method's are essentially that of Goofy's in Kingdom Hearts 1, to those who've played it, he essentially heals you after every two hits.) Personally I feel the item inventory system would've been better if it mimicked a quick switch selection like in Bioshock. (tapping the right bumper to quickly change the weapon you have in your hand.) Sure it would've been annoying sometimes, but better than trying to pay attention to a zombie while fiddling around with some obnoxious screen that blocks off some of your view. >_>


Because you really want to be fiddling with a screen right now...

2. The Lets Be Real Effect

This isn't an internet term. At least I don't think it is. I call things the "Lets Be Real Effect" when a game has certain aspects that pull you out of the immersion by making things easier, which harshly reminds you, it's only a game. "Resident Evil 5" has a horrible case of L.B.R.E with the sprinting of enemies towards you then conveniently stopping at least 4 feet ahead of you. It's as if the enemies are saying,"you know what dude it’s chill, take your time using the left stick to aim".

I don't care if it makes the game harder for newcomers, get rid of it. In the old resident evil games the enemies were slower, but they didn't stop or slow their pace, they kept right at you. Would "28 Days Later" really have been so scary if every time the group was getting chased by infected, the infected would stop upon entering a 4 ft perimeter around them. (I actually laughed a bit at that thought) No, we would all think it was a retarded movie and revere it as being stupid instead of the wonderment that it was. This is what "Resident Evil 5" needs to acknowledge, if your going to make enemies faster then do it 100%. I don't care how many times I would die, if enemies ran up and sliced at me without pause, I would feel immersed and scared shitless.


Help! The 4 ft rule DOES NOTHING!!!

Although it is good to know that if the world becomes zombie infected I don't need to shit myself until they’re within 4 ft of me.

1. Sheva Alomar

There isn't a single “Resident Evil 5” fan who didn't see this coming. It is a universal truth. Sheva needs to f* off.

In the sense of gameplay intentions, Sheva defeats what the game wants you to feel, alone. How can you feel alone if you have a partner running around, wasting your items, stealing the ammo your about to grab, and distracts enemies from you. You can't. In fact what Sheva actually does with 100% success, is remind you that you are playing a video game. Her weaponry and A.I do nothing to help the horror experience, if not tear it down completely. Another person in a survival game can only help add to the suspense if they cannot benefit you in anyway combat wise but you need to keep them alive. This is true for any game of any genre that has tried it, when you need to defend someone it gets the adrenaline pumping faster than someone who can take care of themselves. I honestly feel that if Sheva rarely appeared or was a helpless child I would’ve liked he character a lot more. The simple fact of the matter is when there is a character you have to protect and they are helpless, as annoying as they can be they add greatly to the effect of suspense. Sheva as she is now, ruins any kind of suspense possible.

Sheva's existence on the game as the whole is only a bumper to stop train-wreck accusations of Capcom being racist. To the team of “Resident Evil 5” I say, I respect you guys and you weren’t racist in the first place, now (points to Sheva) make that go away. When Capcom announced the addition of Sheva I was immediately reminded of an old South Park Episode. In the early seasons of South Park there was an episode where the black character, Chef found the town flag racist. (The flag itself was of a bunch of white stick figures lynching a black stick figure.) In the end, to defer racist accusations, the town changed its flag to being stick figures of all colors (including black) lynching a black stick figure. (Heh, see where I’m going with this.) We all seem to have the mentality that actions aren’t racist if a person of the same race is joining in to. I personally wasn’t offended by this, I just thought it was funny and stupid.


Before; Racist


After; Acceptable to all, God bless this world :)

Last bit of rantage:

Now I don’t like how many times I’ve used the word racism in this rant, but really Capcom’s fear of even being slightly thought of as racist has ruined this game’s promise so much. "Resident Evil 5" is a beautiful scenario that has been untouched for years, the simple truth that black people, as zombies, are stronger and harder to see. I believed this idea was so beautiful, that I was in fact offended when people said it was racist. Only recently has their been a rise of inclusion of black people in games (aside from sports games ugh) and I honestly believe the negative attitude given to this game is going to shy developers more from the inclusion of black people for fear of stepping on toes. The game itself has absolutely nothing of racist value, neither did its predecessor. While the character does kill people of a race different from his own, it is simply part of the story and scenario based. I feel if there really was racism behind it then it would shown itself in the trailers at the least.

For example even though Chris gets stabbed, kick and bitten by the inhabitants he never once brings up their race. You will never once hear Chris Redfield yell, "Fuck you goddamn *racial slur expletive deleted*". In fact, race is not brought up once the ENTIRE GAME. So stick that in your juice box and drink it.

Resident Evil 5 truly is a great game deep down inside, but fear of perception is what held it down. To Capcom I say fuck that, let people be idiots and release the game we all know you originally wanted to. Do it, and the universe would explode in a holy aura of awesome.

**I just finished an English 102 class that focused on art, and for the final essay we had to take something we believed to be art and defend it in an essay. I choose video games, and I decided to post it in case anyone likes reading these kind of things. And if you have time please leave your opinions or constructive criticism on my essay writing it would help alot.**


Video Games As An Art Form




In modern society some people are unable to view anything as art unless someone tells them to. Many people posses the idea that anything besides brush strokes on a canvas cannot be classified as art. However, art is not something that can be defined by its medium, because almost everything we see around us is art. Art is simply anything that exists, and invokes a feeling or experience in the beholder. And while this argument may not agree with most people, if one were to spend a day just absorbing the area around them they would find there is so much art in simply existing. In pop culture, the broad definition of art has grown, yet it still lacks the true understanding that is needed for one to truly appreciate the existence of art. We view paintings, music, buildings and movies as art but beyond that nothing else. Yet, there are some items in society although trivial are deserving of being classified as art, namely the household items known as video games.

In the early nineties, famous director Steven Spielberg was asked what his opinions of video games were, and his response to the question, “Do you believe video games are an art form?”. To this Spielberg replied, “I will believe video games will have taken their rightful place as an art form when someone admits they cried when they got to level 9.” Time has passed since that interview, and now in the twenty first century technology has completely changed the presentation of video games. Ideas and thoughts can now be explored that were not possible using 8-bit graphic machines. The concept of a man in a red hat walking from one side of the screen to the other has now completely evolved. With technology now that same man, now newly designed in 3D, can traverse across an entire world; meeting people, making friends, developing plot and character. Games are no longer quick remedies to an afternoon, but full on experiences that take a multitude of hours to complete. They are no longer simply graphics on a screen, but stories meant to make you feel compassion, joy, sadness, accomplishment and a variety of other emotions. And it is just that, the fact they seek to invoke a feeling in the beholder, is what makes video games a form of art.

Video games have always told stories, but never a had a strong enough presence to drag in the majority of society’s interest. But now in recent years that is changing. The graphics being used are getting closer and closer to mimicking life; and now eyes are slowly starting to turn attention to it. An example that comes to mind is the recent game “Grand Theft Auto IV” of the "GTA" series. The series is renowned world over for its game play; of cop killing, car jacking, and being one of the most violent games in existence. Parents have often tried to peg it down as responsible for violent crimes in teens, claiming the games showed them how to do it. In its early days as the series was, it wasn't defendable, it was simply mindless killing fun. Then came the release of “Grand Theft Auto IV”. The game was a graphical clone of New York City, named Liberty City, and it looked disturbingly accurate to the real deal. The major pull of the game was based solely on how one could interact with the world. There was still killing and car jacking, but it had advanced beyond those tools. Now one could interact with the world by; going to see a show, giving a homeless person change, buying a hotdog from a hotdog stand. It was no longer restricted to the task at hand of simply murdering people and carjacking, it grew to actually living in the environment. Anything you could do in New York you can do in the game, it was a true attempt to imitate life which gained it a lot of attention. Graphics aside, the story itself tells of a Romanian immigrant named Niko Bellic, and his struggle to keep his cousin alive while making deals with people, and doing unlawful things just to make it to the next day. Unlike past entry’s in the series this one feels real; the characters are well developed and anytime there is a plot twist, the game successfully makes you feel horrible for what is about to befall the main character. The series as a whole had grown from characters who were less than respectable people trying to make money, to a man who had a deep complex past, a sense of conflict in moralities. And the game itself dragged you in and made you want to learn more about its protagonist, much like a good book does. On the subject of “Grand Theft Auto IV” Newsweek had an article in its technology section by, N’Gai Croal, who had reviewed it and explained it as best he could as art to “newcomers”.


“It's not easy to explain a game like Grand Theft Auto IV to an audience that's not native to this art form. Yes, I said art: to draw an analogy or three, Grand Theft Auto is to videogames what "The Sopranos" was to television—a sprawling, operatic crime series that has elevated the genre and made its creator very rich in the process”

(N’Gai Croal, Newsweek May 2008)


While a comedic stance on the subject, his argument does stand true. Just like “The Sopranos” with anyone who has watched television, “GTA” came and drew in anyone who had ever played a video game. Its visuals and story were fantastic, invoking feelings of awe and suspense and it made one truly marvel at what can be done by people on computers. It is a work that will not be easily forgotten and will always be debated and defended by many as truly art.

Just as there are strong arguments can be made to defend video games as an art form there have been many in firm opposition towards that same notion. One respected person who was in the field against video games being an art form is Jack Kroll (recently deceased) , another writer and editor for "Newsweek".His argument possessed many key points, denying the value of video games by comparing them overall to movies. A comparing of characters in games to actors in movies and so on and so fourth.


“…Games can be fun and rewarding in many ways, but they can't transmit the emotional complexity that is the root of art….The top-heavy titillation of Tomb Raider’s Lara Croft falls flat next to the face of Sharon Stone”

(Jack Kroll, Newsweek May 2000)



While graphics have gotten better, and the writing sharper, there is simply some things that video games can’t pull off. It simply has to be done by humans. A heartfelt monologue about losing one's wife and child will always be more impressive by an actor than as a 3D model. But that doesn’t mean the message still can’t invoke something powerful in one's heart. There are countless scenes in video games that attempt to pull successfully at the beholder's hearts and remain with them just like a heartbreaking scene in a movie. For example, in the highly respected series, "Final Fantasy" during the 7th installment of the game there is a scene where one of the main characters gets murdered and her death affects the rest of the game. The scene was designed to pluck at one's heart strings, and from the response of many people who played it, it was done so successfully. Proving that a message, when given the proper context can be powerful regardless of the medium.

The opposition towards video games being an art form comes from many different angles, and there are some who even view them as a holy plight against God. However, when compared to history there hasn’t been a single medium that society now classifies as art that hasn’t at one point been accused of being immoral to God. Portraits of things other than angels, types of music, movies, structures showcasing nudity, all of them have been under fire as an unholy abomination, and video games are in the flames along with them. One of the most outspoken persons in the need for the destruction of video games for being an attack against God is Jack Thompson, a senator. Every year he launches campaigns unsuccessfully to get video games banned as he claims he is on a, "mission to save souls".


"The 'video game community' (what's next, 'the necromancy community'?) surely seems exercised about someone who is a 'joke' and who is accomplishing nothing. You all seem rather bothered and worried about a nonentity. God is in this battle, and I am privileged to be a foot soldier. You all should be concerned, not about me, but about Him."

(Senator Jack Thompson, Associated Press)


Video games have been on the sights of protesters for a long time, trying to make sure it never reaches the status of art. But by denouncing it as a holy abomination its attracting more people to it. Just as much as when churches denounced swing music and its popularity grew more than it ever had before. And while the opposition has valid points, the presence of video games wont stop growing. Its become to much of an aspect of society to fall away now, and one can only watch to see what they will do with video games tomorrow.

What is art? A question that is defined only by the beholder. It falls into the same category of beauty, good and evil. It’s simply a matter of perspective. In my perspective, video games are art, every video game is a massive achievement of art with aspects of life shinning out every time you pick it up. Video games have evolved from colorful graphics on a television to beautiful views and life like scenery. They are beautiful example of the creativity and imagination that is stored in the minds of humanity. There is so much to be experienced by them that one almost forgets that video games are simply scenarios, made by a team on computers, using their imagination to convey a feeling to their user, and presented on a simple disc.