Lonely miles of wasteland: Radiating failure in Fallout 4

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 7-22
Author(s):  
J. Inscoe
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Game World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Confidence Man ◽  
Disc Jockey

In this article, I analyse a radio voice in a post-apocalyptic video game, Fallout 4, set in the future ruins of Boston, Massachusetts. In the quest ‘Confidence Man’, players participate in the heteromasculinization of a failing radio disc jockey, Travis Miles, engaging him in the violence and relations of the post-nuclear war wasteland. Despite the ludic elements at play, Fallout 4 teleologically curtails player agency in Travis’ vocal puberty. I argue that Fallout 4’s ‘Confidence Man’ circulates gendered, nationalistic and capitalistic discourses, which assume an idealized confident radio voice as the natural, preferred intimate aesthetic and which reject the awkward, queer intimate aesthetic. Travis’ transformation into the confidence man Travis ‘Lonely’ Miles fulfils the sonic pleasure ethos of a capitalist formation, one that demands an appropriate aesthetic for a game-world centred on a neocolonial settler imperative.

scholarly journals Historicizing video game series through fan art discourses

2016 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Švelch ◽  
Tereza Krobová
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Mass Effect ◽  
The Future ◽  
Personal Histories ◽  
Historical Discourses ◽  
Past Experiences ◽  
Media Fandom ◽  
Shed Light

In this article, we argue that fannish histories should not be dismissed as mere nostalgia over past experiences of one's own media fandom. Instead they should be understood as complex narratives which combine various historical layers (personal, productional, fictional) and influence the future reception of and anticipation for sequels. They also shed light on the personal histories of fans, which are often juxtaposed with extratextual and fictional histories of a video game series. The subjective nature of these historical discourses is not to be seen as a constraint but as a feature of everyday history which points to the prominence of historicizing in fan cultures of video game series. These topics are examined in the selected multimodal material from the site DeviantArt consisting of fan art pieces, authorial captions, and respective comments inspired by two single-player video game series: Tomb Raider and Mass Effect.

scholarly journals Analysis on the Share Price and Forecasting Calculation Data of Activision Blizzard, Inc. Based on SWOT-Model

2020 ◽  
Vol 214 ◽  
pp. 02015
Author(s):  
Jiahao Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Rapid Development ◽  
Advanced Technology ◽  
Share Price ◽  
Steady Increase ◽  
Online Game ◽  
Calculation Data ◽  
Good Investment ◽  
The Future ◽  
Game Industry

In recent years, increasingly advanced technology infrastructure leads to an extraordinary growth of Internet users. By virtue of the explosive growth of the entire Internet industry, the online game industry has shown a rapid development trend, and the overall user scale of online games continues to expand. Meanwhile, the online game industry becomes a good investment market for investors to operate in. This article uses Blizzard as an example to analyze its investment value. Besides, the future trend of the video game industry is analyzed by using the SWOT-model and forecasting calculation data. The result shows that based on the current development of the game industry environment and the same companies in the game industry, Activision Blizzard will have a steady increase in profits in the future. Therefore, it is worth being invested.

Coelacanth History: Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse and the Cybertext of Things

Traversals ◽  
2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stuart Moulthrop
Keyword(s):  
Video Game ◽  
Time Travel ◽  
Digital Culture ◽  
Time Machine ◽  
Authoring System ◽  
Game World

This chapter reflects on John McDaid’s author traversal of his 1993 hypermedia novel, Uncle Buddy’s Phantom Funhouse, a groundbreaking work not just for its comprehensive exploration of Apple’s HyperCard authoring system, but also because of its principle of “modally appropriate” presentation, involving non-digital artifacts as well. Built around the science-fictional notion of time travel and multiverses, the Funhouse thus invites consideration of his own curious history, in which it figures as a kind of broken time machine. Comparing McDaid’s work with later, similar projects from the video game world, the chapter argues for an understanding of digital culture that moves beyond the harsh binaries of obsolescence. As McDaid says: “We win by losing.”

scholarly journals SUCCESS AND FAILURE ANALYSIS OF FILMS ADAPTED FROM VIDEO GAMES

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 635-658
Author(s):  
Özgür ÖZSOY ◽  
Bülent Onur TURAN
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Failure Analysis ◽  
Video Game ◽  
Online Survey ◽  
The People ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship

One of the intersections of the video games and cinema industry is the subject of adaptation. There are many productions adapted from movies to video games or from video games to movies. In this study, it is aimed to define the response of the films adapted from video games on the audience side. The audience and the actor are part of these adapted productions, their location plays a role in shaping the future of these productions, in this context the results obtained in this study are valuable in terms of expressing the potential of these productions. In this study, two different methods were used to achieve objective results; Online survey with 11 professionals in the cinema industry and cinema education, an analysis of the data collected from the criticism sites on www.imdb.com and www.metascore.com, and the comments of registered users. With the analysis of these comments obtained from the audience, the focus of the audience has been determined, and with the answers given by the people who have received cinema education or professionals who are professional in the cinema sector, information has been provided on both the foresight and the situation in it. These methods are analyzed within themselves and in the conclusion part, the results of the two methods are combined. As a result, it is that the audience evaluates these films without separating them from the game and they wish that this cooperation will continue to develop and continue. It has been determined that failed film samples are not decisive for video games. Although the audience thinks that this genre will develop, more successful results will be achieved, it has been understood that the feeling of being active in the game is more dominant to the feeling of being passive in the movie. It was seen that the relationship of the audience with the films was video game centered, and the emotions he felt in the game and the details of the game were also looked for in the inner structure of the film.

scholarly journals The sience and art of moral responsibility for the future

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (19) ◽  
pp. 22-30
Author(s):  
Maryna Braterska-Dron ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Moral Responsibility ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Personal Responsibility ◽  
Moral Truth ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
Actual Problem ◽  
Great Severity ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Main Thing

The article is devoted to the actual problem of the probable future of our civilization and the moral responsibility of mankind for it. In the twentieth century, humanity was actually faced with the threat of man-made destruction of life on the planet. The tragedy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with great severity raised the question not only about the morality of science, but also the personal responsibility of the scientist for his discoveries. In particular, in 1955, the Einstein-Russell Manifesto was signed, which initiated the widely known Pahous Movement for Peace and Disarmament. Art has responded to the nuclear threat. In 1950, R. Bradbury's story "There Will Be a Graceful Rain" was published. One of the first to address the subject of doomsday was American filmmakers: R. Weiss («The Day the Earth Stalle», 1951), S. Kramer («On the Shore», 1959), S. Kubrick («Doctor Stranzhla», 1964), S. Lumet («Security System», 1964). The idea of moral responsibility of each person for his future was raised on the Soviet screen in the films: «The Escape of Mr. McKinley» (1975, M. Schweitzer), «Sacrifice» (1986, A. Tarkovsky), «Letters of the Dead Man» (1986, K. Lopushansky), «Visitor to the Museum» (1989, K. Lopushansky). It was in the 1970s and 1980s that they became a painful awareness of the insecurity and fragility of human life. It has become clear that nuclear energy can be not only a policy or an economy, but above all a tool of self-destruction. It has been scientifically justified that the greatest threat to humanity lies not where it was not expected. Nuclear war is not only the mass destruction of people, total destruction, radiation, infectious diseases, etc. The main danger is the climate change of the planet, changes in the biosphere (the effect of nuclear winter), which humanity will not be able to survive. marked by a painful awareness of the insecurity and fragility of human life. But today, the biosphere is threatened not only by human waste, environmental pollution, but also by the gradual destruction of the natural environment, the frantic depletion of natural resources, etc. The main thing that threatens our civilization is moral irresponsibility to posterity. What has to happen for humanity to realize the danger of indifference? Personal responsibility for the future of everyone and everyone for the future of everyone is the main principle of survival. The eminent philosopher M. Berdyaev wrote: «The end of the world depends on man, and he will be one way or another, depending on the actions of man... The greatest religious and moral truth to which a man must grow is that he cannot be saved alone. My salvation also involves the salvation of others, my loved ones, the salvation of the whole world, the transformation of the world».

scholarly journals Games of Drones: The Uneasy Future of the Soldier-Hero in Call of Duty: Black Ops II

2014 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 360-376 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carrie Elizabeth Andersen
Keyword(s):  
Video Games ◽  
Video Game ◽  
First Person ◽  
Combat Experience ◽  
Logical Conclusion ◽  
The Future ◽  
First Person Shooter ◽  
The U.S

In this article, I argue that the first-person shooter video game, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, reflects the U.S. military‟s transition as it reimagines the soldier‟s role in war. In the age of drone technology, this role shifts from a position of strength to one of relative weakness. Although video games that feature future combat often “function as virtual enactments and endorsements for developing military technologies,” Black Ops II offers a surprisingly complex vision of the future of drones and U.S. soldiers (Smicker 2009: 107). To explore how the game reflects a contemporary vision of the U.S. military, I weave together a close textual reading of two levels in Black Ops II with actual accounts from drone pilots and politicians that illuminate the nature of drone combat. Although there are moments in Black Ops II in which avatars combat enemies with first-hand firepower, the experience of heroic diegetic violence is superseded by a combat experience defined by powerlessness, boredom, and ambiguous pleasure. The shift of the soldier from imposing hero to a banal figure experiences its logical conclusion in Unmanned, an independent video game that foregrounds the mundane, nonviolent nature of drone piloting. Instead of training soldiers to withstand emotionally devastating experiences of death and violence first-hand (or to physically enact such violence), games like Black Ops II and Unmanned train actual and potential soldiers to tolerate monotony and disempowerment.

The Last Night of the World

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan R. Eller
Keyword(s):  
Science Fiction ◽  
Nuclear War ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
Creative Writer ◽  
Fahrenheit 451

This chapter reflects on Ray Bradbury's career, describing him as a writer who never really fit the genres he was assigned to. It begins with a discussion of Fahrenheit 451, a novel that illustrates how the ideas in Bradbury's science fiction, often dark and occasionally hopeful, had become cautionary. For Bradbury, the future danger was not technology, but the humans who will control it. The nuclear war that closes both “The Fireman” and Fahrenheit 451 ran parallel to a number of mid-century Bradbury stories, such as “The Last Night of the World” and the last four tales in The Martian Chronicles. This chapter also considers Bradbury's strengths and shortcomings as a creative writer, one who could not resist the temptation of playing the storyteller with details of his own life, but also absolutely true to his public convictions; his desire to be true to his Muse, to write for himself with little regard for outside pressures, has been a constant hallmark of his writing career.

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