Too Human

I've been checking out the hype surrounding this game and I'm really excited. If you haven't heard anything about it, this is a hyper-brief rundown.

It has been in the works for 10 years.

It is a futuristic past sort of thing with Norse themes.

Its an RPGesque brawler vaguely related to God of War.

Anyway, the exciting bit is about the developer, Silicon Knights. It seems, as reported in the latest Electronic Gaming Monthly, that the developer has worked extensively with Shigeru Miyamoto and Hideo Kojima, creators of Mario and of the Metal Gear series. And Silicon Knights has fused some of their styles into the game. From Miyamoto, they have taken a highly accessible approach to controls and content (even though its a futuristic Norse opera/epic) and from Kojima, the guts to do something thoughty. In the Big Picture, this is exciting to me because it represents a pattern of learning in video games. In other healthy media, there is a history of young masters studying with old masters: Miles Davis played with Dizzy Gillespie. Beethoven studied with Haydn. This process, or connection between great talents, has produced incredible work. And now it seems someone is trying the same thing with video games.

Point two of excitement, the miyamoto approach to content. According to an interview with Silicon Knights, there are three levels of meaning to the plot, which, I emphasize, is colossal. The first is the standard Save the Universe bullshit. If one understands the symbolism, then the third level has to do with Norse Mythology. Silicion Knights says the intent was that the game took place 10,000 years ago and over time what was truth became Norse myth. The third, which requires knowledge of the mythology, is a discussion on Nieztchean philosophy. Silicon knights hopes that the game may spark interest in both topics. They are also worried that getting too into Norse Mythology will spoil the plot of the other two thirds of the trilogy. They say that if they are only appeal to the hardcore, they have failed.

Sweet. Paradigm shift.