University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

The fourth estate in the third dimension: the image of the news media and the photojournalist in video games

(USC Thesis Other)

The fourth estate in the third dimension: the image of the news media and the photojournalist in video games

PDF

Download a page range

Download transcript

Copy asset link

Request this asset

Transcript (if available)

Content THE FOURTH ESTATE IN THE THIRD DIMENSION: THE IMAGE OF THE NEWS MEDIA AND THE PHOTOJOURNALIST IN VIDEO GAMES by Jake Gaskill A Thesis Presented to the FACULTY OF THE GRADUATE SCHOOL UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF ARTS (JOURNALISM) May 2008 Copyright 2008 Jake Gaskill ii Acknowledgements Thank you is too weak a phrase to express how truly grateful I am for the guidance, the respect and the education I received from the brilliant and esteemed members of my thesis committee over the course of this entire endeavor. My deepest appreciation goes out to my thesis chair Joe Saltzman, without whom this thesis would not exist. Your encouragement and assistance over the past year in developing this project has meant more to me than I can say. An additional thank you to Barbara Saltzman for honoring me with her humbling and astonishing editorial skills and for making me appear to be a far better writer than I am. A special thank you to the other members of my committee, Doug Thomas and Larry Pryor, for providing me with the perfect amount of assistance, understanding and freedom necessary to complete a project such as this one. Thank you also to the faculty and staff of USC and Annenberg for giving me the opportunity to be a part of your gifted and infinitely encouraging family. A final thank you to my family and friends for their unwavering support and encouragement. I would be nothing if not for you. iii Table of Contents Acknowledgments ii Abstract iv Introduction 1 Chapter 1: News Media Television News 4 In-Game Televisions and Radios 12 Grand Theft Auto and Radio News 17 Internet News 25 Chapter 1 Endnotes 30 Chapter 2: Photojournalism 41 Character Design 43 Setting 47 The Price of Bringing Truth to the People 52 Beyond Gore and Evil Zombies 59 Chapter 2 Endnotes 64 Conclusion 75 Conclusion Endnote 77 References 78 Books/Articles/Websites Films Video Games Bibliography 84 iv Abstract The goal of this discussion is to examine the techniques, styles, designs and narrative devices that video games employ – specifically games featuring in-game news media and journalists as their heroes – so that we might have a clearer understanding of how video games are shaping the image of the journalist in popular culture. In a time in history when the credibility of the news media is threatened regularly, and in a time when rapidly changing technologies, such as next-generation video games, are allowing audiences to experience stories in new ways, the potential for a drastic shift in the image of the journalist by way of video games is more possible than ever. This discussion will examine how developers weave fictional news media – specifically in the form of television, radio and internet news – into the fabrics of video game narratives to create more believable and more complex game worlds and to demonstrate the necessity for, and the societal implications of, the news media in popular culture. 1 Introduction Video games and the news media rarely find common ground. In fact, the only time they really seem to interact is following a school shooting or some other nonsensical act of violence committed by someone under the age of 35. 1 No other form of entertainment has been attacked as regularly or as emphatically over the last decade as the video industry, yet video games continue to be one of the fastest growing industries in the world. 2 What may be even more fascinating is the relationship between video games and the news media in terms of video games themselves. Despite being widely blamed by the news media at large for all of society’s ills 3 , video games – and by extension game developers, designers and publishers – have long seen the institution that is the news media as a vital and valuable part of society. 4 News media conventions, forms and devices have been part of video game design from the earliest arcade-game days on through to the most recent next-generation console and computer games. 5 Aided by exponential growths in the technological power of modern computer processors and ballooning video game budgets, 6 developers and designers are now able to create more robust and detailed game worlds than ever before. For designers, this freedom means more sophisticated immersion techniques such as believable character models, environments and high-quality sound design. For gamers, this means expansive and more convincing game worlds and more complex gaming experiences. A similar revolution occurred in the early 1980s when games such as Battlezone, 7 3-D Monster Maze 8 and Dungeons of Daggorath 9 took gaming into the third dimension for the first time. 2 Suddenly, game designers were able to take players inside game worlds in ways that had previously never been possible. It is not surprising then that the use of news media in games became more sophisticated over time as well. One of the most popular and critically adored games of all time is Paperboy. 10 Atari Games developed and published the game, with the help of Elite Systems and MindScape 11 and released it in arcades in 1984. Paperboy has since appeared on every major game console including the Commodore 64, numerous Nintendo platforms (Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Nintendo 64 and GameCube), the Sega Genesis, Sony’s PlayStation 2 and most recently, Microsoft’s Xbox 360. The game represents one of the best and earliest uses of news media in video games. Aside from allowing players to take control of a paperboy, the game featured a fictional newspaper called the Daily Sun (“The World’s Most Throwable Newspaper”), which is displayed at the completion of every level or if the player failed to complete a level. If the player is successful, contrary to Earl Warren’s assertion that “the front page usually records nothing but man’s failures,” the front page of the Sun appears on the screen and features headlines such as, “Amazing Paperboy Delivers!,” “Perfect Service Earns Honors Big Bucks!,” and “Hero Paperboy Stops Thief!” However, when the player loses, the headlines read, “Paperboy Calls It Quits, Daily Sun Subscription Rate Plummets, ‘He Was a Loser,’ Daily Sun Now Hiring.” The front page’s layout resembles that of any real world newspaper, complete with “Extra! Extra!” and “Morning Final.” 12 3 While far less sophisticated than the news media that appear in current games, the integration of a fictional newspaper was a first of its kind, and it successfully captured the essence of the news’ role as informative documenters of daily life. From that point forward, approximately 24 years and counting, in-game news media continued to evolve and adapt to the rapid growth of the industry. No longer confined by scant amounts of memory and primitive graphics cards, designers and developers are now able to integrate news media into games more effectively and more believably than ever before. So with one foot planted firmly in the past, it is time to step into the modern age of gaming to see how advancing technologies and multi-million dollar budgets have shaped the image of news media in video games. 4 Chapter 1: News Media Television News Virtual news media appear most frequently and most positively in games that involve some form of world conflict or international espionage. This situation is hardly surprising considering that CNN made a name for itself by offering continuous live coverage of the first Gulf War in the early 1990s. The 24-hour cable news station offered Americans unparalleled access to the day-to-day events of a war. Since then, several other 24-hour cable news stations, such as MSNBC and Fox News, have emerged to fulfill essentially the same purpose. While the first few years of the media’s coverage of the second Iraq War lacked the level of criticality that the public has come to expect from the news media, it delivered, and continues to deliver, a modern war into the homes of Americans on a daily basis. The images of reporters in helmets and flak jackets on the dusty streets of some war-torn Middle Eastern city are instantly recognizable to anyone who has watched minimal war coverage on television. Footage of tanks rolling through towns, troops engaged in street battles, enemy forces mobilizing, etc. are all part of the general public’s consciousness. It is no wonder that game developers who concentrate on games involving modern warfare and modern world conflict have made it a point to make news media significant and believable parts of their game designs. No partnership has been more instrumental in the development of news media in video games than that between author Tom Clancy and video game publisher Ubisoft Entertainment. Clancy co-founded Red Storm Entertainment in 1996, which went on to 5 produce the blockbuster game franchise Rainbow Six, based on Clancy’s novel of the same name. The Rainbow Six series – 19 games in all – 13 is known for its supreme attention to detail in everything from weaponry to squad commands to tactical strategies, all of which have helped make it one of the most successful and critically acclaimed franchises of all time. 14 Ubisoft purchased Red Storm in 2000 and acquired the rights to the Tom Clancy brand. Since then, Ubisoft has produced 15 games spanning five separate franchises – Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, Splinter Cell, End War and Air Combat – all under the Tom Clancy name. Since realism is Ubisoft’s ultimate aim, it is no wonder that the use of news media in its games is unparalleled in terms of quality, design and implementation. World News Media (WNM) is the fictional news network that appears in ten of Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy games, the first being the original Splinter Cell for Microsoft’s Xbox 15 , where it appeared as First News Wire (FNW). WNM initially appeared in Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow (2004), the sequel to the original Splinter Cell. Since then, it has become a staple of all Clancy/Ubisoft titles. So how exactly does a fictional news broadcast work in the context of a video game like Splinter Cell? Typically, WNM news briefs appear at the beginning of each mission as part of a larger cut-scene 16 . The news segments open with a nightly news style theme song played over a neon globe with “WNM International News” imposed over it. The news anchor 17 then proceeds to report the day’s events, while a news ticker crawls along the bottom of the screen. 18 During some reports, the anchor sits in such a way that the newsroom – 6 complete with cubicles, passing personnel and towers of television monitors – can be seen in the background. Portions of the news briefs include the anchor reading news copy over relevant video footage. The broadcasts also feature clips from news conferences and interviews recorded by broadcasters in the field. An example of one of the first FNW broadcasts in the original Splinter Cell provides better understanding of the structure and design of these broadcasts: …mark a steady rise in Georgia’s economy. Once central to the former Soviet Union’s development and manufacturer of weapons, Georgia has recently resurfaced as a potential player in the world of military industry. With active contracts in Russia, Turkey, Germany and even…has stated the need, especially in these times, for a reliable source of oil in the Middle East. Commerce Secretary Moore out of Azerbaijan this morning, noted the title nation’s enormous potential for oil, calling on American investors to provide the necessary funds for tapping the reserves. 19 The broadcasts usually include multiple news briefs, and a channel changing effect is used to represent a viewer tuning in to the broadcast at different points in time. Some clips also include brief segments of the anchor interviewing an expert in some relevant field, who explains the political or social implications of the actions taking place in the game. 20 Other times, real-world stock footage appears, 21 providing an even greater sense of reality and believability to the broadcast as well as to the events of the game. Because of how the broadcasts fit into the game’s narrative, there is little room for variation in terms of what news is reported or how it is delivered. In other words, every player sees the same broadcasts and receives the same information. However, in the Xbox and PlayStation 2 versions of Splinter Cell: Double Agent, one breaking news 7 broadcast does not appear in the Xbox 360 or PS3 versions of the game. Because the game features multiple endings – the player either defuses a series of nuclear bombs or they do not – the broadcast varies depending on the player’s success or failure. If players fail to defuse any of the bombs, the following news brief plays over the game’s credits: We interrupt this programming to bring you a breaking news story. We are receiving reports of massive devastation in Los Angeles, where some sort of explosive device was detonated just moments ago. The destruction is centered on the city’s busy port, but the damage extends for miles in all directions. Early speculation indicates that the blast may have been nuclear in nature, and authorities are estimating a death toll in the hundreds of thousands. ‘We thought it was an earthquake,’ said one witness, ‘but then we looked out towards the water and saw the cloud.’ I wish it was an earthquake. We will continue to bring you all the breaking news on this tragic series of events…This just in. We have word of a massive explosion in Nashville, where the President was speaking earlier today. It is believed that the President and those in attendance were killed in the blast. Authorities are responding to fires, which continue to blaze out of control throughout the city. And they’re trying to extend emergency aid to the thousands of wounded survivors. The Vice President, when informed, vowed to find those responsible and bring them to justice. 22 All but one of the Splinter Cell games concludes with a newscast. 23 These news briefs not only wrap up the narratives in a simple and effective way, they also, as is the case with Double Agents’ multiple endings, show players the scope of their actions. The difference in emotional response on the part of the player between saving hundreds of thousands of lives as opposed to causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, including the President, is astronomical. Delivering this information to the player via a television newscast ensures maximum effectiveness, since the player has come to see the in-game news media as ever-present keepers of record in the game world. This relationship between the player and the in-game news media, specifically WNM, becomes even more important when it shows up in other Ubisoft/Clancy games. 8 By incorporating a recurring news network complete with the same fictional anchors – voiced by the same actors – in each of its Clancy titles, Ubisoft has created a persistent universe based entirely around the news media. So when players finish Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory and they start Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, the same reliable news network is right there to pass along pertinent information about the newest conflict under way in the new game world. 24 This kind of inter-game connectivity based around a news network is unique in video games. No other publisher has more successfully captured the style, design and conventions of broadcast news than Ubisoft. When the WNM logo glistens into focus over the spinning neon globe and the staccato news theme starts playing at the start of a new Splinter Cell level, the effect on the player’s sense of immersion is immediate and brilliantly crafted. Using a fictional news broadcast at the start of each level is an unobtrusive and efficient way of transmitting large amounts of exposition in a natural and believable way. The player could easily be told the same information by a fellow soldier in the field or by commanders who are in constant contact with the player throughout the games. But that approach would not provide the same level of immersion, as they would take away from the sense that the player’s actions are affecting the entire game world. More people know about the situations engaged in by the player than simply those involved in them because those situations are unfolding on a global scale within the games. By piercing the bubble that can many times form around game narratives, Ubisoft achieves a much larger scope for its games. The broadcasts give players the sense that populations around the world are following their every action since their fates and the fates of their nations are often tied 9 directly to the player’s success or failure. This adds an element of consequence to the game that would be lacking if the player were unable to see how his or her actions are presented to the inhabitants of the fiction game world. Whether the player’s actions are criticized, questioned or incomplete due to government suppression 25 during the brief pre-mission cut-scenes, the player is constantly made to feel as though his/her actions are more significant than a few button presses would suggest. Oftentimes in games involving international incidents or world wars, the player encounters people from all sides of the conflict, many of whom will proffer information that is contradictory to the information received from other sources. 26 Understandably, this makes knowing who to trust and what to believe all the more difficult, and it can sometimes make it hard to tell what exactly is going on in the narrative. Fortunately, the WNM broadcasts play the role of the fictional name players can trust. Given the straightforward presentation style that Ubisoft has designed for the network and its correspondence, the player is able to easily accept the information as factual, which in turn means that players will be able to follow the games’ commonly complicated plots more successfully. The combination of being a part of the game’s story as well as being exposed to a third-party explanation of the events taking place (compliments of the fourth estate) make for an all-around more convincing game experience than if those elements were absent. WNM also appears in the award-winning Clancy/Ubisoft franchise, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter (GRAW). 27 While the Splinter Cell games emphasize stealthy spy 10 gameplay, the GRAW series gives players the chance to step into the combat boots of American Special Forces soldiers as they fight their way through the war-torn streets of Mexico following a military coup in the year 2013. Unlike its presentation in the Splinter Cell series where it appears on the entire screen as it would if you were watching an actual news broadcast, WNM in the GRAW series appears in a small window on the screen while the player remains in control of the game character. This design represents what the player would be seeing if he/she were wearing a high-tech helmet equipped with mini-screens situated in front of their eyes. These displays supply the player with pertinent information, such as troop movements, enemy positions, maps and the point of view of fellow soldiers provided by helmet-mounted cameras. During GRAW’s opening mission, a female broadcaster doing a live report from Mexico City provides the first piece of information the player receives about the game’s narrative. 28 She delivers her report with exactly the same inflection and syntax as one would expect to hear on any competent television news program. In the opening sequence in GRAW 2, a similar broadcast appears on a television monitor imbedded in the dashboard of a military Humvee that is transporting the main character. 29 Despite WNM’s small-screen format in GRAW and its sequel, the tone, style and presentation established in other Ubisoft/Clancy games are consistent and as believable as ever, and they once again provide all of the same relevant information required for the player to understand the conflict in which he/she is engaged. The change from a full-screen, television/movie-style presentation to a headset display does alter the complexity of the fictional broadcasts since they do not contain all of the detail found in the broadcasts in 11 the Splinter Cell series. Nevertheless, the broadcasts are still a convincing way of maintaining a sense of urgency and believability in the game. In addition, the broadcasts appear less frequently in the GRAW games and in different ways than in the other Clancy games. Instead of appearing at the beginning of each level, news reports are often patched into the player’s squad via the helmet screens. One such report occurs after a mission involving the bombing of the U.S. embassy in Mexico City and the subsequent gun battle that leads to the rescue of the Mexican president. The news report concludes with aerial footage of the battle through which the player just fought. By once again showing the player that there are other eyes out there watching the player’s progress on the nightly news, the developers are able to create the sense that the game world is a living, breathing place where serious events are unfolding and being covered by news outlets. When used in this way, the news media of video games most resemble the real world news media, as they allow viewers to witness events happening all over the world. Viewers know there are battles raging because they see the battles raging. The only difference with the broadcasts in video games is that players are intimately familiar with the battles being reported on because they have been physically involved in them. However, the effect of both in-game news and real-world news is the same. People look to the news, or at least that is the hope, to inform themselves of the happenings of their world. While misinformation, fabrication and lazy reporting do find their way into the pipeline from time to time, news media provide our only way of knowing what is 12 happening beyond our driving radii. In-game news media serve the same purpose. They provide players with the sense that there truly is a world beyond their character and whatever objective they are pursuing from mission to mission. In-Game Televisions and Radios Unlike games that present in-game news media as either part of a cut-scene or as a small window on the TV screen, the titles being discussed in this section present their in-game news media in a more organic and realistic way. In these games, the news broadcasts appear on actual televisions and radios inside the game worlds themselves. Games such as the Max Payne series 30 , Beyond Good and Evil 31 , Condemned: Criminal Origins 32 , The Darkness 33 and Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 34 allow players to interact with TVs and radios and listen/watch large segments of news broadcasts specific to the events taking place in their particular game worlds. In Max Payne, the player assumes the role of the title character, a police officer whose wife and child are murdered and who finds himself framed for the murder of his partner. The game follows Payne as he battles his way through a gang war in order to find the people responsible for both heinous acts. As players progress through the game, they come to realize they are being set up. However, the only reason the player knows this is due to the news bulletins the player comes across during the course of the game. The in-game news media in the Max Payne series, particularly the first Max Payne – represented by fictional news station NYCNN News and reporter Kyra Silver – is 13 presented entirely on television screens and radios found throughout the game. Max Payne’s in-game news media remain some of the best ever, because of their attention to detail, presentation, style and implementation into the game’s narrative. Due to the technological limitations that existed at the time Payne was made, the visual design of the television broadcasts is far less sophisticated than those \ in some of the other games so far discussed. In Max Payne, the news briefs are essentially slideshows, which show semi-relevant material, such as police cars and crime scene stills. However, the broadcasts themselves are presented professionally and offer the player valuable narrative information. One such news bulletin is as follows: New York City is in crisis tonight, with reports of a Valkyr-related gang war in the streets of the Bronx. Apparently, Max Payne, wanted for questioning in connection with the slaying of a DEA Special Agent earlier tonight, is waging a one-man war against his former partners in crime. Among the listed casualties so far, are notorious Mafia members, Joey and Virgillio Finito, as well as Rico Muerte, himself a fugitive from the law and a suspect for several murders in the Chicago area. The NYPD has been placed on full alert. A citywide APB has been put out on Max Payne. Deputy Chief Jim Bravura has promised to take whatever steps necessary to bring him to justice. What those steps may be remains to be seen. For NYCNN TV News, this is Kyra Silver. 35 There are several reports of this type, in which the player encounters news coverage that contradicts what the player knows to be true concerning the narrative – that Payne did not kill his partner and he is, in fact, an undercover cop and not just some mindless murderer. As Erwin Knoll 36 famously put it, “Everything you read in the newspapers is absolutely true, except for that rare story of which you happen to have first-hand knowledge.” 37 So instead of the in-game news media being in sync with the player’s actions and providing the player with a sense of stability and support as they do in the previously 14 discussed games, here the news is meant to give players the sense of being helpless and isolated from the outside world, because the news is against them. This is not only a brilliant game design choice, but it also serves to propel the narrative forward by pushing players to want to finish the game in the hopes of clearing their name. Drug-crazed, psycho-killer mobsters are one thing, 38 but few things are as terrifying or as dangerous as the news media when it has been misinformed. 39 Unfortunately, the news in Max Payne falls to the wayside at a certain point and fails to deliver any sense of exoneration on behalf of the player, as the news media do in the Splinter Cell series. Call of Duty 4 is a bit of an anomaly, but it deserves mentioning if for no other reason than it was the best-selling game of 2007. 40 Unlike Max Payne, which is played in a third-person perspective like the Splinter Cell and GRAW games, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare is a first-person shooter (FPS). The first-person perspective is designed to make players feel as though they are literally looking out of the character’s eyes rather than following behind the character. The game only has one scene where the player encounters a television that delivers news in the game world. The rest of the news media in the game come via a nameless “News Caster” between missions. These peppered broadcasts include standard recapping of events from the previous mission as well as predictions of upcoming objectives. 41 The last instance of news media in the game occurs following the detonation of a nuclear bomb and features a collage of various nameless news media broadcasts. Similar to the WNM broadcasts in the Tom Clancy games, the news media in COD 4 serve primarily as a reminder to the player that the rest of the game world is 15 following the player’s actions closely and that there are serious consequences associated with the player’s success or failure. Ubisoft’s action/adventure fantasy Beyond, Good and Evil was an under-the-radar masterpiece that put players in the shoes of a spunky photojournalist named Jade, who fights to expose the truth behind the tyrannical government that has taken control of her home planet, Hillys. Over the course of the game, the player uses a camera to document the conspiracy behind the government’s corruption. 42 The people of Hillys come to learn of their government’s corruption from Jade’s pictures, which are published in an underground newspaper. The image of the photojournalist portrayed in the game will be discussed later in more detail, but for now, we will focus on the game’s use of in-game media. Similar to the other games in this section, Evil offers players the opportunity to digest news broadcasts over the course of the game through TVs and radios found throughout the game world. These broadcasts help fill in plot points, but as in Max Payne, the player does not receive accurate or honest information from them. Because, the Hillyian news network, HTV, has become a puppet of Hillys’ newly established dictatorship, the only news the player receives comes laced with propagandist misinformation. News flash: the war as if you were there. The DomZ have intensified their attacks on Hillys. In spite of our protective shields, the enemy’s projectiles have once again inflicted heavy losses amongst civilians. More than 800 victims have been evacuated by the Alpha Sections. And now a short speech from General Kecks, supreme chief of the Alpha Sections, to remind us all of our duty as loyal citizens and to invite us to help the war effort by joining the ranks of the Alpha Sections. 43 16 Once the player finally exposes the truth behind the government’s corruption, the news media are once again free to report honestly and without pressure from an oppressive government. The final broadcast in the game explains, “The truth has finally been revealed by our trustworthy colleagues from the IRIS Network…Once again, the honorable journalistic profession was able to show that it had a preponderant role in history.” 44 Not only is Evil the best game ever to feature a journalist in the lead role, it set the bar in terms of how to design believable news media in games. What sets Evil apart from other games is that, in addition to giving players chances to participate in newsworthy events, players also play an integral role in reshaping the in-game news media itself. Jade not only topples a corrupt government, but also once against establishes a free press. And it is all due to her feats of journalistic heroism. The connection that this creates between the player and the game world varies greatly from, say, that created by the pre-mission broadcasts in a Splinter Cell game, because there is never any question whether the reported information is true. The news media in the Clancy games are designed to be factual and functional, bringing the player up to date on the status of their missions, whereas the news media in Evil are designed to make players feel the weight of the oppressive government, which in turn serves as motivation throughout the game. Updates are provided in Evil as well, but because the news media are portrayed as propagandist tools of the government, their appearance and evolution take on a deeper significance in the context of the game’s narrative. 17 The images of the news media and journalists in Evil are highly favorable ones. Jade’s integrity and persistence as a journalist literally saves the world, and the news media come off as perhaps the most influential aspect of society in terms of how people view their world and their governments. If corrupt governments wish to control the public, persistent propaganda pumped out over the airwaves will turn any democratic and peaceful society into a pack of paranoid, ultra-nationalist xenophobes overnight. Ironically, though, those same news media are capable of bringing down those very same corrupt powers should they receive the proper motivation to do so. Grand Theft Auto and Radio News Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto series is one of the highest grossing, most groundbreaking and controversial game franchises in gaming history. 45 Designed to allow players to freely explore large-scale urban environments and wreak havoc in as many ways as possible, the GTA games sport some of the most sophisticated and revolutionary game designs ever. With Grand Theft Auto 3, 46 Rockstar changed gaming forever by giving players the chance to explore the fully realized, three-dimensional New York- inspired Liberty City. While in-game news does not appear as much as in future games in the series, when in-game news does appear in GTA 3 it is perfectly designed and masterfully used. During the game’s opening sequence, a fellow bank robber shoots the main character and leaves him to take the blame. The front page of the Liberty Tree, the city’s newspaper, appears on the screen with the main character’s picture plastered on it next to the 18 headline, “Criminal Shot By Girlfriend Accomplice: Court Finds Armed Robber Guilty By Unanimous Verdict.” Other front-page articles include an investigation into police connections with the Yakuza and a story about a possible ambulance-drivers strike. The next scene shows the main character being transported in a police van during which the following news broadcast plays: Liberty City is in shock today as police and emergency services deal with the aftermath of a devastating attack on a police convoy this morning. As yet, no details have been released about the prisoners being transferred in the convoy, and no group has claimed responsibility. The convoy left police headquarters early this morning for a routine transfer of felons to Liberty City penitentiary. The attack took place on the Callahan Bridge leaving few witnesses and the bridge itself severely damaged. Some of the convicts are thought to have perished in the explosion that followed the initial attack. Revelations as to the professionalism of the attack struck police hours afterward when identification of the missing felons were further hampered by an attack by computer hackers on police headquarter databases. With the Porter Tunnel falling behind schedule, this disaster leaves Portland isolated from the rest of the city. 47 These two instances of in-game news media – the newspaper and the broadcast – serve several important functions at once. Since the main character in GTA 3 has no name and does not speak, his appearance on the front of the newspaper lets the player know just enough back story so that when he/she takes control of the character, he/she is not completely lost as to the game’s story. The opening broadcast also sets up key elements of the game’s narrative, mainly that the only section of the city open for exploration at the beginning of the game is an area called Portland, one of the three islands that make up Liberty City. This transmission of information via the newscast is seamless, and it ensures that the player knows just enough to feel comfortable in the game world. 19 Radio stations play a major part in the GTA franchise. In GTA 3, there are more than three hours of programming spread across nine stations, all of which players can listen to while driving around the city. 48 When players make it to certain points in the narrative, new areas of the city become available. To inform players of their achievements, a breaking news bulletin cuts into whatever station the player happens to be listening to at the time. One bulletin informs players of the following: News just in from the traffic desk: repairs to the Callahan bridge have been completed. Since the explosion, engineers have been working around the clock to get traffic flowing between Portland and Staunton Island once again. 49 Having the news cut into a program already in progress to provide players with such crucial information goes a long way toward creating a believable game without drawing too much attention to itself. Not only does it show tremendous technological prowess on the part of the developers, it also shows a keen understanding of how people relate to news coverage, especially breaking news coverage. “This just in…” is perhaps the most attention-grabbing phrase in the English language, and the developers at Rockstar Games take full advantage of it, by using the public’s inherent attraction to the idea of breaking news driving the narrative forward. Unlike previous games where the player’s actions are either directly reported or are referenced in some way by in-game news channels, the news bulletins in GTA 3 – aside from the opening and closing broadcasts – contain information that has no connection to the player. Yet, the effect is the same. Having news updates regarding pertinent yet peripheral information gives players the sense of being 20 part of a world that existed before they arrived and will continue to exist whether they take part in it or not. The final news report in the game however does contain direct references to the player’s actions. Following a lengthy gun battle, the same newscaster from the beginning of the game reports the following: Residents in Cedar Grove have been coming to terms with the emotional aftermath of a full-blown war that hit the area yesterday. Local resident Clive Denver described to police a single gunman that he saw fleeing the scene with a dark-haired woman. The sound of explosions shook homes as people ran for cover. Several citizens were injured in the panic as ground fire was exchanged between ground forces and a helicopter circling the dam. ‘Yeah, we got a good view from down here in the gardens. When the ’copter finally got taken out, better than the fireworks on the Fourth of July.’ With the death toll already over twenty, police are still finding bodies. There have been no official denials concerning rumors that the dead were members of the Columbian Cartel, and still no leads as to the cause of the massacre. 50 By bookending the game with these broadcasts, Rockstar establishes a consistent tone for the game while convincing players of their relevance within the game world itself. The inclusion of an eyewitness report within the broadcast contributes greatly to the broadcast’s believability. The news media in GTA 3 play a similar role to that of the real news media, as providers of pertinent, useful and accurate information to the public at large who will then use that information to gain a better understanding of their world. Rockstar’s pitch-perfect use and representation of the news media in GTA 3 is even more impressive when one considers how the press demonized – and continues to demonize – the game and its developers for its violence and adult themes. 51 As a result, the press 21 completely overlooked the game’s artistic, technological and psychological prowess, especially in terms of how it portrays and implements news media throughout the game. The next installment in the GTA franchise, Vice City, represents more of a fine-tuning of the genre than a total overhaul and features fewer news media than its predecessor. The story follows recent jailbird and falsely accused gangster Tommy Vercetti as he fights to find those responsible for his imprisonment and eventually become the godfather of the Vice City mob. The game’s most impressive aspect, just ahead of the enormity of the game world, would have to be the dozens of hours of radio programming included in the game, ranging from rock to new wave to talk. 52 VCPR (Vice City Public Radio) presents a blistering satire of NPR and NPR programming, while at the same time planting the seeds for an entirely new role for news media in games that would blossom in the sixth installment in the GTA franchise, San Andreas. In Vice City, VCPR only has one show, Pressing Issues. 53 Each of the show’s three segments lasts approximately twenty minutes, and between the acts, two VCPR hosts beg listeners for donations and make outrageous and satirical observations about the state of public radio. 54 The show itself takes the form of a roundtable discussion where guests debate various topics. While the show fails to deliver any pertinent news to the player in the traditional sense, Issues represents the shift in popular culture toward accepting punditry and political talk shows as part of the news media. The player still receives several updates over the course of the game via breaking news bulletins on the radio, which help to maintain the image of the news media as necessary and valuable sources of 22 information in the game world. While the use of news media in Vice City was not nearly as groundbreaking as its predecessor, it did establish a technique expanded upon in future installments to establish a more believable game world. In many of the games previously discussed, the narratives have either referenced or taken place in real-world locations. GRAW takes place in Mexico. Over the course of the Splinter Cell series, players visit Japan, China, CIA headquarters, Kinshasa, Paris, Jerusalem, Jakarta and other real locales. Rainbow Six: Vegas obviously takes place in Las Vegas, however the names of the casinos and hotels are fictional, but that was most likely for legal reasons. Vice City is a bit different in that it takes place in a fictional city inspired by 1980s Miami. Complicating issues even further however is the fictional characters in the game reference real-life figures and places. By blending fiction with reality and then infusing that with news media, specifically the broadcasts on VCPR and the subsequent WCTR broadcasts in GTA: San Andreas, Rockstar achieved something unique among the games so far discussed. When players come across a location in a game such as Paris or Las Vegas, they immediately recognize that the events unfolding take place on modern-day Earth and not a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away. Even if players have never physically been to the particular city in the game, chances are they have seen pictures or are at least familiar with it in some other way. In addition, game settings have become photo-realistic and therefore more convincing than ever thanks to advances in technology. But when players encounter references to real-life figures and events, 55 the relationship between the player 23 and the game world changes dramatically. Instead of encountering fictional characters in real-world settings, as in many of the games discussed previously, players of Vice City and San Andreas encounter fictional characters who reference real-world figures while exploring settings inspired by real-world locations. While this counterpoint may seem confusing when outlined, all of these factors work together seamlessly. When news media are added to the mix, they create a powerful and unique game experience. GTA: San Andreas represents the culmination of almost a decade’s worth of work creating one of gaming’s most prized franchises. San Andreas, the fifth game in the series, took major strides both in terms of its use of news media within the game’s narrative as well as its portrayal of the news media. Not only does the game satirize the news media according to all of the worst images propagated by popular culture 56 – mainly that news is often more concerned with mindless sensationalism than competent, truthful and fair reporting – it also finds a healthy dose of inspiration from the real-world shift that occurred in news media following September 11, 2001. The most obvious source of inspiration for WCTR’s crass, high-octane, rah-rah, us- against-them, these colors don’t run, support the troops attitude 57 comes from Rupert Murdoch’s spin-machine Fox News. One of WCTR’s lead-ins (“Prepare to be scared. The news is next,” 58 ) is something straight out of a Bill O’Reilly broadcast. While the majority of WCTR’s segments consist of numerous over-the-top news briefs, 59 they also serve to inform players of key narrative elements, such as the unlocking of a new area 60 or a report on events in which the player was recently involved. 61 What sets the news 24 media – represented by WCTR – in San Andreas apart from previous GTA titles, and any game that features in-game news, is that it is persistent and accessible to players whenever they are traversing the game world, which is 95 percent of the time. 62 That kind of exposure is unparalleled in video games, which means that players – more than 20 million of them in fact 63 – have been exposed to arguably the harshest portrayal of news media in game history. Since none of the games discussed so far has taken an editorial stance in terms of their portrayal of the news media, it is safe to say that San Andreas stands as the most influential game in terms of shaping the image of the news media in video games. So it stands to reason that until the GTA franchise decides to portray the news media as something other than soulless, bloodthirsty, fear mongering, puppets of power that will continue to be the image to which a staggering amount of 18-35 males will be exposed. 64 And while skepticism and criticism of the press occurs in every medium, in every form, the sheer popularity of video games and its booming industry mean that it has the most potential to influence popular culture. This is especially true for the image of news media, since technologies have reached a point where developers are able to incorporate believable and functional news media systems into their games with greater ease than ever before. Fortunately, for the news media, the majority of games that include news broadcasts as part of their narrative structure portray the news media in a favorable way. The reason for this is that the design, presentation and style of in-game news media must align with the 25 tone of the game in which they appear, and there are far more games with serious tones than games with satirical tones. For instance, it would be inappropriate and stylistically jarring for a WCTR (San Andreas) broadcast to appear in a Splinter Cell game. While most Tom Clancy games include a fair amount of light humor, their stories involve highly dangerous and deadly serious international crises. The in-game news media must reflect the weight of the situation unfolding in the game and as, a result, the tone influences the image of the news media in the game and vice versa. The news satire that appears in San Andreas and, to a lesser extent, Beyond Good and Evil is successful because the game world allows for it. Consequently, news media in video games ultimately function as they do in the real world, as both representatives and influencers of their societies and cultures. Internet News As established so far, news media are most successful in video games when presented in a form that most suites the video game medium, namely television (visual) and radio (audio) broadcasts. The use of print news in games still exists, 65 but it functions merely as a way to inform players of their success after the completion of a level by displaying their score and their achievements on the front page of a newspaper. While its design and use are simple, print news media serve a specific role and its parameters are well established. Internet news, however, poses an entirely different set of challenges. For one thing, real- world newspapers are still struggling to find out what works on the Internet as opposed to traditional newspapers, so it is no surprise that game developers have been slow to accept Internet news as a viable way to transmit news media in their games. 26 Perhaps the most successful design and implementation of internet news appears in the techno-future fueled multimedia franchise .hack. 66 The franchise spreads across many different forms of media, 67 but naturally, this discussion will only focus on its video game incarnations. The story jumps between the game’s actual world and the game’s MMORPG (massively multiplayer role-playing game) world wherein the player embarks on a series of quests in order to uncover the truth about the game world. In order to simulate the disconnect between the game world and the game within the game world there is a simulated computer desktop that the player uses just as he or she would in the real world. There are icons on the screen that the player can click to open particular programs. One of the key aspects of the game is the email system, which informs players of objectives and quest progressions as they proceed through the game. However, the game’s Internet news system is far more impressive. The in-game news media function the same as they do in all the games discussed so far, however the news appears on a simulated computer screen and is designed to resemble a streaming Internet broadcast. Before Grand Theft Auto IV, 68 the .hack franchise stood as the best example of in-game internet news media. In GTA IV, Rockstar Games’ newest installment in the Grand Theft Auto series, news media play an even more pronounced role in the game’s design and narrative than in any of the series’ previous installments. This time around, the local news channel, Weazel News, whose slogan is, “Reporting the Right News,” provides players with constant updates regarding the daily events of Liberty City – the fictionalized version of New York City that serves as the game’s setting. Similar to past titles in the series, these news 27 updates come by way of radio broadcasts. However, now players will also be able follow the events of the day through internet news. Throughout the game, players can access the in-game internet by logging in to computers found in the game world. When players log on, they can access their email to find out about upcoming missions, or they can browse the hundreds of fictional web pages. 69 One of these websites is the online version of Weazel News. 70 The site updates throughout the game with stories that may or may not directly reflect actions taken by the player throughout the course of the narrative. Other times, the news reports will address events transpiring in Liberty City that the player would never know about without the news coverage. By incorporating news that the player has nothing to do with, the designers are able to create an even greater sense that players are just one of millions of inhabitants in a living, breathing world. One of the other prominent news organizations in GTA IV is a TMZ inspired news outlet called Our Own Reality (“The News That Matters”). 71 Since the game has yet to be released at the time of this writing, there are few details regarding the news outlets role in the game. However, Rockstar’s GTA IV website has some examples of stories that will most likely appear in the game. With headlines such as “Wayne Tearson living playboy lifestyle,” “Airhead January Natasha Vasquez on game show” and “Paparazzi late to the scene,” it is clear that Our Own Reality will heavily satirize the rise of celebrity news coverage in America. With the tried and true radio broadcasts, the newly designed internet news and a fully integrated gossip rag, Rockstar once again proves that it is the 28 most innovative in-game news media designer in the business, as well as one of popular cultures harshest critics of real world news media. The most recently released title to attempt some form of Internet news media is the sci-fi title Assassin’s Creed, another Ubisoft production. 72 Unfortunately, the developers pushed the news media so far into the background of the narrative that it is easy to miss if players do not seek it out. Essentially, the news in the game appears in the form of emails sent out by an Internet newswire service. At a certain point in the game, the player can access these messages by hacking into one of the antagonist’s computers. Since the player’s character spends the majority of the game trapped in a laboratory, the only information he receives about the game world – other than the fact that the game takes place in 2012 – comes via these news briefs. Despite the little information the news briefs provide, they do a fair job of giving the player a sense of the major tensions going on in the game world. Two of the messages directly relate to the game’s narrative by filling in back story regarding the organization experimenting on the player over the course of the game. 73 Two other news briefs talk about tensions mounting over Arctic oil drilling and the lack of progress on the part of world nations during the six years following a viral outbreak that killed 96 percent of Africa’s population. 74 While these four stories present straight news and are consistent with the tone of the game, the subject matters of the remaining three news briefs are oddly satirical. 75 One of these briefs explains: 29 Nation Mourns the Loss of Final Film Studio: History was made today with the closing of the country's last movie studio. The rising prominence of video games coupled with rampant piracy are considered to be the leading causes of its demise. 76 Since Assassin’s presents differing styles of news media – straightforward vs. satirical – it is difficult to pin down where the game stands in terms of its portrayal of the news media. In one way, the game’s news is similar to a Tom Clancy or Max Payne game. Yet it also contains the kind of satire common in the GTA franchise. It seems that the majority of blame falls on the medium used to transmit the in-game news. The use of Internet news briefs represents an interesting experiment in how to incorporate the medium of online news into games. However, it is much harder for in-game news to remain tonally consistent when it is underdeveloped, left relatively hidden and then simply tacked on to fill in minor plot points. In-game news media systems can only be effective if developers spend the time necessary to make them believable and integral to the game’s narrative structure. 30 Chapter 1 Endnotes 1 Perhaps the most famous assault against video games raged following the Columbine shootings in 1999. Here is just a sampling of some of the stories published by various news outlets that set their sights on the video game industry following the tragedy: Brian Crecente, Dissecting Jack’s Lies (Kotaku.com, 2007). <http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/feature-dissecting-jacks-lies-252914.php> Accessed November2007. Mike Nizza, Tying Columbine to Video Games (New York Times, 2007). http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/> Accessed November 2007. Mark Ward, Columbine Families Sue Computer Game Makers (BBC News, 2001). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1295920.stm> Accessed November 2007. Video games came under fire again in the wake of the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history: Winda Benedetti, Were Video Games to Blame for Massacre? (MSNBC.com, 2007). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/> Accessed 2007. Chris Koeler, From “Virginia Tech” to “Video Games” in 8 Hours (Wired, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/from_virginia_t.html> Accessed November 2007. 2 Tor Thorsen, NPD: 2007 Game Earnings Nearly $18 Billion, Halo 3 Sells 4.82 Million (Gamespot.com, 2008). <http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184847.html>. Accessed January 2008. 3 Ed Bradley, Can a Video Game Lead To Murder? (CBSNews.com, 2005). <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml>. Accessed November 2007. Kristin Kalning, Does Game Violence Make Teens Aggressive? (MSNBC.com, 2006). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/>. Accessed November 2007. D. Parvaz, Video Game Research Yields Wide-Ranging Conclusions (SeattlePi.com, 1999). <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogameviolence/stdy14.shtml>. Accessed November 2007. Benjamin Radford, Reality Check on Video Game Violence (LiveScience.com, 2005). <http://www.livescience.com/technology/051204_video_violence.html>. Accessed November 2007. 31 4 It is the purpose of this thesis to prove this claim. 5 Released in 1984, one of the golden ages of gaming, the massively popular Paperboy stands as one of the earliest examples of substantial in-game news media as it contained a fictional newspaper, the Daily Sun, which appeared at the conclusion of every level and provided players with their statistics for that level. This technique has stood the test of time, and in fact, it appeared most recently in The Simpsons Game. Print news also appears in games such as Half-Life 2 and Bioshock in the form of news clippings and newspapers scattered throughout the game world. When presented in this way, these print news elements add significant weight and believability to the game world. 6 According to BBC News, the average budget of a PlayStation 3 game is around $15 million. <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7151961.stm> 7 In Battlezone, considered the first true 3-D video game, players must fight off enemy tanks and the occasional flying saucer from the perspective of a tank-gun operator. Atari developed and published the game, which appeared in arcades and on early consoles such as the Atari 2600, Mac II, DOS, and most recently, it became available for download online on Xbox Live Marketplace. <http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_classics/psp> Accessed February 2008. 8 3-D Monster Maze, created by Malcolm Evans and published by J.K. Greye Software in 1981, stands as the first 3-D game for a home computer (Sinclair ZX81). <http://www.edge-online.co.uk/archives/2006/04/the_making_of_3_1.php> 9 Developed by DynaMicro and published by Tandy Corporation for the Tandy Color Computer, Dungeons of Daggorath was one of the first first-person (the player sees out of the game character’s eyes) role-playing games. <http://oldcomputers.net/coco.html> Accessed February 2008. 10 Paperboy review. <http://www.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/paperboy/review.html?sid=6165947> 11 Paperboy history. <http://www.arcade-history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=1935> 12 Paperboy screenshot. <http://gwadzilla.blogspot.com/Paperboy.png> 13 Rainbow Six (1998: PC, 1999: Nintendo 64/PlayStation, 2000: Sega Dreamcast), RS: Rogue Spear (1999: PC, 2000: Dreamcast, 2001: PS), RS: Lone Wolf (2002: PS), Rainbow Six 3 (2003: Xbox, 2004: GameCube, PS2,), RS3: Raven Shield (2003: PC), RS3: Black Arrow (2004: Xbox), RS: Lockdown (2005: GameCube, PC, PS2, Xbox), RS: Critical Hour (2006: PS2, Xbox), RS: Vegas (2006: PC, PS3, Xbox 360), RS: Vegas 2 (2008: PC, PS3, Xbox 360). Several expansion packs were also released for the PC. RS: Eagle Watch (1999), RS: Urban Operations (2000), RS: Covert Operations Essentials (2000), RS: Black Thorne (2001), RS3: Athena Sword (2004), RS3: Iron Wrath (2005). 32 There are also two mobile phone games, RS: Broken Wing, RS: Urban Crisis. <http://www.gamefaqs.com/search/index.html?game=tom+clancy%27s+rainbow+six&pl atform=0> Accessed December 2007. 14 According to Ubisoft’s official website, the Rainbow Six franchise has sold 17 million units since 1998 when the original game was released the PC. <http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/index.php?p=65&art_id=> Accessed November 2007. The latest installment, Rainbow Six: Vegas, won game journalism giant IGN.com’s Best of 2006 awards for Best First-Person Shooter, Best Xbox 360 First-Person Shooter, Best Online Game and Best Xbox Live Game. <http://bestof.ign.com/2006/> Accessed November 2007. As of April 2007, Vegas has sold 1.7 million copies. <http://www.next- gen.biz/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5371&Itemid=2> Accessed November 2007. 15 The Splinter Cell series is a stealth-based third-person action where the player assumes the role of an American spy named Sam Fisher, who must thwart acts of war on the part of various terrorist organizations. The franchise has so far sold 18 million units since 2002, <http://www.ubisoftgroup.com/index.php?p=65&art_id=> Accessed November 2007. The series has appeared on GameCube, Game Boy Advance, PC, PS2, PS3, PSP (PlayStation Portable), Xbox, Xbox 360, Wii and mobile phones. There are five games in the series: Splinter Cell (2002) SC: Pandora Tomorrow (2004), SC: Chaos Theory (2005), SC: Double Agent (2006) and SC: Conviction, set to be released in Spring 2008. There have also been five novels inspired by the games, all written by differing authors but under the same pseudonym David Michaels: Splinter Cell (2004), SC: Operation Barracuda (2005), SC: Checkmate (2006), SC: Fallout (2007). 16 A cut-scene, or cinematic, can be described as, “short, ‘pre-rendered’ audio-visual sequences in which the player usually performs the role of more detached observer than is the case in the more active periods of gameplay.” (King, 11). 17 WNM news anchor Morris O’Dell appears in six Ubisoft/Clancy games: Splinter Cell, Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Splinter Cell: Double Agent, Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter and Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2. 18 Examples of ticker news include: “Vice President Returns from European tour,” “Congress Denies Funding for Unmanned Surveillance Probe,” “Nasdaq up by 2%,” “Athens Prepares for Olympics.” 19 Splinter Cell (2002, Ubisoft). 20 The following interview occurs in Splinter Cell: Analyst: In many ways, a leader from a bygone era, his beliefs are very firmly founded in Georgian orthodoxy, his political standings are more in line with the early 20 th century. Anchor: Would you fault him then as a politician? 33 Analyst: Not at all. Kombayn Nikoladze is all politician. He’s done wonders for the Georgian economy, a brilliant tactician. It’s more a question of ethics. Anchor: And ethically speaking? Analyst: Well… 21 Stock footage from World War II (including planes, random combat and marching troops) plays during a news brief in Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory. 22 Splinter Cell: Double Agent, (2006). If the player succeeds in defusing one of the bombs, the newscasts reports on the bomb that detonated. If they player successfully defuses both bombs, the newscast reports that a nuclear attack was narrowly avoided. 23 SC: Pandora Tomorrow does not end with any form of news media. 24 It is general understood that the Splinter Cell series and Ghost Recon series exist in the same universe. The Rainbow Six series however does not. 25 Tom Clancy games, and Tom Clancy stories in general, involve government agencies and international incidence. So naturally, the governments in the stories have influence over what information the news reports. 26 In Splinter Cell: Double Agent, the player infiltrates a terrorist organization in order to stop a plot to bomb Los Angeles, New York and Nashville, Tennessee. Since the player must maintain the trust of both the government agency he works for and the terrorists he is undercover with, they see the conflict from multiple sides. The structure of the game also forces players to make difficult choices (like whether or not to kill one of the government’s head security officials, who is also your boss, in order to maintain your cover) that could blow their cover or result in them being classified as a terrorist. 27 2006 British Academy Video Games Award for Game of the Year and Technical Achievement. 28 Anchor: The U.S. President has joined the Canadian Prime Minister and the Mexican President in Mexico City to sign NAJSA, the North American Joint Security Agreement, a historic new policy designed to share the policing responsibilities along the borders of these three countries and hopefully curtail the illegal immigration and movement of weapons and terrorists in the hemisphere. As part of this groundbreaking agreement, fifty U.S. tanks have been given to the Mexican army and are now on display at Camp Chapultepec in Mexico City. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, (2006, Ubisoft). 34 29 The following broadcast occurs during the opening of GRAW 2: Anchor: And we now have confirmation that President Ballentine has touched down in Washington. Both he and President Ruis Pena insist that the North American Joint Security Agreement will still be signed, despite yesterday’s coup attempt in Mexico City that was finally put down with the help of U.S. forces. As for the recent outbreak of rebel activity in Honduras, Columbia and Panama, unnamed U.S. forces now confirm their connection to yesterday’s coup attempt in Mexico, raising concerns that violence is spreading across the rest of Central America. Reporting live from Panama is Marco Sambrota. Marco Sambrota: In the last twenty-four hours, the rebel forces here, led by Gabriell Valbroda, have essentially shut down the Panama Canal. U.S. forces have moved into the area amid widespread reports that the rebels are looting ships and stealing their cargo. There are also rumors that sensitive military gear have been taken, though any connection between events here and Mexico still remains unclear. 30 Max Payne, developed by Remedy Games and published by Gathering of Developers, was released in 2001 for the PC. Rockstar Games, the publishers of the GTA franchise, eventually released the game on Xbox, PS2 and Mac. Rockstar then published Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (2003), also developed by Remedy Games, for PC, Xbox and PS2. The games are known for their over-the-top action sequences and ability to trigger a slow-motion effect during intense gun battles, a la The Matrix, which adds to the game’s cinematic presentation. 31 Beyond Good and Evil was developed and published by Ubisoft and released in 2003 for PC, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Xbox. 32 Condemned: Criminal Origins was developed by Monolith Productions and published by Sega for the Xbox 360 in 2005 and the PC in 2006. 33 The Darkness was developed by Starbreeze Studios and published by 2K Games for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in 2007. 34 Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare was developed by Infinity Ward and published by Activision for PC, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 in 2007. 35 Max Payne, (2001). 36 Erwin Knoll was an American journalist and editor of Progressive magazine. His First Amendment battle, and subsequent victory, over the government’s unconstitutional use of prior restraint against the article, “The H-bomb Secret: How We Got It - Why We're Telling It,” stands as one of the great trumps for free speech and the American press. 35 37 Robert I. Fitzhenry (ed.), The Harper Book of Quotations (HarperCollins Publishers, New York, 1993), p. 320. 38 Many of the game’s enemies are mobsters who have become addicted to a drug called Valkyr, which had originally been developed by the U.S. military. The drug makes the mobsters into ruthless, mindless killers. 39 One of the most famous examples has to be Richard Jewell, who was falsely accused of bombing Atlanta’s Olympic Park in 1997 and was shortly thereafter crucified by the news media, sullying his reputation for the rest of his life. The fact that Jewell was actually a hero, who single-handedly prevented scores more injuries and possible deaths from occurring, made the story all the more tragic. Jewell died in 2007. 40 Activision.com, Call of Duty(R) 4: Modern Warfare(TM) Ranks #1 Title in Units Worldwide for Calendar 2007 <http://investor.activision.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=289631> Accessed January 2008. 41 “After heavy fighting today, U.S. Marines began to push into the city where Al Asahad is making his last stand. Fighting has intensified in the capital city. Anti-aircraft fire and burning buildings light the night.” “Heavy fighting continued throughout the night, as U.S. Marines pushed towards the capital city in pursuit of Khale Al-Asahad. Sporadic fighting did occur as Al-Asahad’s forces fall back towards the Presidential palace.” 42 The specifics of the story are explained in the photojournalists section. 43 Beyond Good and Evil (2003). 44 Ibid. 45 The Grand Theft Auto franchise has sold approximately 65 million copies worldwide. There are seven official games in the series: GTA (1997 – PC, PlayStation, Game Boy Color), GTA 2 (1999 – PC, PlayStation, Sega Dreamcast, Game Boy Color), GTA 3 (2001 – PlayStation 2, PC, Xbox), GTA: Vice City (2002 – PS2, Xbox, PC), GTA: San Andreas (2004 – PS2, Xbox, PC), GTA: Advance (2004 – Game Boy Advance), GTA: Liberty City Stories (2005 – PSP), GTA: Vice City Stories (2006 – PSP), GTA IV (2008 – PS3, Xbox 360). There were also two expansion packs released in 1999, GTA Mission Pack 1: London, 1969 (PC) and GTA Mission Pack 2: London, 1961 (PC). 46 Grand Theft Auto 3, as with all of the subsequent GTA games, was developed by Rockstar North and published by Rockstar Games in 2001. 47 Grand Theft Auto 3, (2001). 36 48 There are nine stations in the game: Head Radio, Double Clef FM, K-Jah, Rise FM, Lips 106, Game Radio, MSX FM, Flashback FM, Chatterbox FM. 49 Grand Theft Auto 3, (2001). 50 Ibid. 51 Ed Bradley, “Can a Video Game Lead to Murder?” (CBSNews.com, 2005). <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml> Accessed November 2007. 52 The stations in Vice City are: V Rock, Wave 103, Emotion 98.3, Flash FM, Wildstyle Pirate Radio, Fever 105, Espantoso, VCPR. Unlike the music in GTA 3, Vice City features music from real artists like Guns and Roses, Journey, Iron Maiden, Ozzy Osbourne, and Twisted Sister. While not integral to the narrative of the game, being able to listen to real world music while exploring the game world adds another level of believability to the game experience. 53 Pressing Issues is a roundtable debate show hosted by a man named Maurice Chavez. 54 The following segment represents the kind of NPR-inspired parody that appears in regular intervals on VCPR: Host: I'm Jonathan Freeloader and you're listening to VCPR. This portion of Pressing Issues is brought to you by Ammu-Nation, a proud supporter of public radio and our community. We hope you're enjoying Pressing Issues and the way it challenges your view of society. Unfortunately, public radio in Vice City is under pressure. That's because we're better than everyone! You can't hear this kind of hard-hitting, long drawn- out programming anywhere else... But, you have to give money. Michelle: That's right, Jonathan. Money is important. It can be exchanged for goods and services, like getting a hip replacement or funding a starving child in Australia. Jonathan: I feel all covered with flies right now! Call us. Pledge your money. Give 10% of your income. That's all we ask, and for that you know everyone can be educated on the important things we discuss on VCPR! Michelle: 10% is a really small amount. I remember when I was volunteering in Central America, to make myself appear less shallow, the native peoples would give you 10% of their land for a pair of mirrored sunglasses, and they would run around me saying, "Chicle! Chicle!", which is Espanol for "pretty woman". It was very spiritual, like waves! Jonathan: Absolutely! But remember... This radio station could disappear. The voice of unprofitable radio could be silenced. One day you wake up, roll over, and she's gone! You go into the kitchen, there's a note sprawled, a sound of a taxi leaving in the distance, a thunderstorm rolls in... It's a metaphor for my haircut, or this pledge drive. 37 Michelle: Yes, the pledge drive. Become a member. Only members, or people with radios, can listen to this radio station. Now, back to Pressing Issues. 55 During one segment, Pastor Richards, a recurring guest on Pressing Issues, explains, “Every time a culture has taken on the doctrine of helping your fellow man, we get thrown into the dark ages. Look at Russia! They keep trying to help each other out; extend a hand to a neighbor. And guess what? Every ten years, someone's invading, burning down their homes, and taken their toilet paper. Napoleon, Stalin, Attila the Hun... All of them. After you read my book, you will understand. I may have been born in the sea, but I'm no dummy.” GTA: Vice City, (2002). In GTA: San Andreas, reporter Leanne Forge says, “Customs officials report a huge influx of Russian mobsters and cheap weapons since the fall of the wall.” GTA: San Andreas, (2004). 56 Typical WCTR lead-ins include, “WCTR News. Unfair and skewed for you,” “Next up: the reason you’re afraid. The news,” “WCTR News. Reporting what makes the administration happy,” “Wanna be too scared to go outside? The news is next,” “WCTR: state controlled news,” “WCTR News: Reporting what the morning memo tells us to,” “All the news the government wants you to hear” and “WCTR News: We try to make it interesting, and not depressing.” Here are a few of the harsher parodies in the game: “Officials say there are still no reported casualties, which is truly unfortunate, as it makes for incredibly boring news,” “Top news stories: Was Moses really from Ohio? Chairs: the silent killer in your home. Do trees cause baldness?” 57 “Today’s top stories: Why hatred is good for you. Foreigners: worse that we thought,” “In foreign news, a suspected U.S. agent was caught in Panama selling weaponry to right-wing guerillas, causing a major incident, but we plan mostly to gloss over the implications and hope you enjoy some sporting activity tonight. The state department is advising against foreign travel.” GTA: San Andreas, (2004). 58 Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, (2005). 59 Achor Leanne Forge says, “In foreign news, we have war, famine, pestilence and a lot of envy aimed at our way of life. Stay at home. It’s better that way. I’m Leanne Forge, WCTR News. Stay alert! They’re after us!” 60 “Bridges linking Red County and Flint County finally reopened recently after long delays following the earthquake.” “After months, all bridges have been reopened. Bone County, Tierra Robada and Las Venturas county are now linked up with the rest of the state.” GTA: San Andreas, (2004). 61 “The street wars between gangs of Ballas and Grove Street hoodlums came to a head recently when several senior Grove Street gang members were killed, while other s were incarcerated. The police described that as, and I’m quoting, ‘Excellent news.’ Back to you Leanne.” GTA: San Andreas, (2004). 38 62 The majority of the game involves driving around the enormous game world. All of the vehicles available to players (cars, motorcycles, boats, planes, helicopters), not counting bicycles, contain radios that players can use to listen to any of the game’s 11 stations (WCTR, Master Sounds 98.3, K-Jah West, CSR, Radio X, Radio Los Santos, SF-UR, Bounce FM, K-DST, K-Rose, Playback FM.) 63 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2005 Financial Results <http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=157255> Accessed November 2007. Jonathan Sidener, Microsoft Pins Xbox 360 Hopes on Halo 3 Sales, (SignOnSanDiego.com, 2007). <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070925-9999-1n25halo.html> Accessed November 2007. 64 Grand Theft Auto IV will be released on April 29, 2008. It has yet to be seen how the news media will factor into the game’s narrative. However, creator/writer Dan Houser said in a recent interview with IGN.com, “The thing that people are going to get really interested in -- particularly on the second or third play through -- is all the news media. As you play the game, you're driving around and you hear on the radio the news change. It changes tons and tons of times as the story progresses. You can go on the Internet and read the same news. And you can read it from a Left Wing perspective, a Right Wing perspective or like a centrist hysterical ‘the world's gonna blow up’ type perspective. They all bounce off each other.” <http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/863/863435p5.html> Accessed March 2008. 65 In The Simpsons Game (EA, 2007 – Nintendo DS, PS2, PS3, PSP, Xbox 360, Wii), the game displays the front page of the local newspaper (The Springfield Shopper) with information regarding the player’s performance on the previous level, a la Paperboy. 66 According to GamerZone.com, “.hack revolves around an MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game) called “The World”, which is the big craze in Japan. A new player named Kite (the person you control) has just logged into The World since his buddy Orca has talked about how great it is. Soon, Orca falls into a coma and word begins to spread that there is a virus running loose that not only is corrupting game servers, but also causing players to fall into a coma while playing. The story builds up over the first two installments to increase the mystery of who is behind the virus, and the corporation that created the World just seems to keep growing stronger. In Outbreak, the corruption has spread even worse, and it’s up to you to move Kite closer to solving the mystery of who is behind the issues in The World, and ultimately team up with his friends to stop it from happening.” <http://ps2.gamezone.com/gzreviews/r21633.htm> Accessed December 2007. 67 The franchise includes comics, novels, television shows, movies, video games and card games. 39 68 GTA IV will be released on April 29, 2008 for PS3 and Xbox 360. 69 Many of the fictional companies in the game are reported to have their own websites that players can visit in the game world. 70 Here are two such news briefs: “Government officials address Dark Cerulean 4 threat level – Officials indicated that liberals in Congress were to blame, and that investigation into warrantless wiretapping were giving comfort to our enemies – so much comfort we might as well give terrorists fleece blankets and let them curl up next to the cozy fireplace that is America and drink chai tea on all of our tax dollars, just like they do in Britain.” “LCPD Mafia Clamp Down, Terror Focus Next – Liberty City’s beleaguered police department, still reeling from recent scandals, today tried to deflect attention from the war on terror by starting another war – this time, it’s crime that we are going to invade, occupy and reduce to rubble. In particular, the scourge of Liberty City – organized crime. More details as the story develops.” <http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=weazelNews&content=interactive0> 71 Our Own Reality. <http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=ourOwnReality&content=interactive0> 72 Released in 2007 on Xbox 360 and PS3, Assassin’s Creed gives players the chance to explore full-scale recreations of 12 th century Jerusalem, Acre, Damascus and Masyaf. The game is split between a research laboratory in 2012, where the player is being put through a series of experiments in which a machine is used to tap into the memories of the player’s ancestors stored in the player’s DNA. So the medieval exploration is actually a simulation. When the player explores the lab in between missions, computer terminals can be accessed, and that is where the player encounters the news briefs. 73 “Eye-Abstergo Satellite Launch Postponed: Citing last minute adjustments to their new All-In-One telecommunications satellite, Eye-Abstergo has postponed the launch of their first satellite until December 21st. They maintain that their patented technology will allow faster, more reliable data transmission than previous-generation satellites which suffered from delays and interference...Hundreds Hospitalized in Wake of Water Tampering Scandal: Abstergo Holdings stands accused of secretly manipulating a small town's water supply in order to test a synthetic drug referred to internally as New Fluoride.” 74 “Tension Mounts Over Antarctic drilling: The U.S. and E.U. are once again facing heavy criticism for their decision to begin construction of jointly owned oil platforms in the Weddell Sea. Several super national unions oppose the work, claiming it violates the Antarctic Treaty System. The situation has been further complicated by the presence of two naval destroyers, said to be in the region for reasons unrelated to the construction…Talks Continue regarding Aftermath of L-11 Outbreak: Nearly six years 40 later, little progress has been made in dealing with the repercussions of what history books now refer to as ‘The second Plague’. With nearly 96% of its population decimated over a 3-month period, the continent of Africa is now virtually uninhabited. Plans to divide up the continent have met with strong resistance and claims of neo-colonialism. One protestor had this to say: ‘Whether we are a hundred or a hundred million this is still our home and no one has the right to take it from us.’” 75 “Mexican President Promises Better Border Security: Concerned about record numbers of illegal immigrants entering his country, the President of Mexico today promised to ramp up border security. The number of troops stationed along the border is expected to triple. Opponents are worried about an increase in violence between American refugees and Mexican troops. Fighting between the two groups has left 300 dead and nearly 1000 wounded over the past six months…Hurricane Season Ends, But not in the way you think: Increasingly erratic weather patterns have caused the Global Weather Association to abolish the term ‘Hurricane Season’. Once confined to the months of June through November, hurricane duration, frequency, strength, and location have increased to the point where most coastal cities must now live in constant fear of those devastating storms.” 76 Assassin’s Creed, (2007). 41 Chapter 2: Photojournalism Occasionally, games appear in which players step into the shoes of journalists. Unfortunately, these games are a rare breed. 77 Two of the best examples are Dead Rising 78 and Beyond Good and Evil, both of which not only feature journalists in lead roles, but also portray journalists as heroes and journalism as the Superman of professions. They allow gamers to play as photojournalists and employ photojournalist skills, mainly the ability to take pictures and have the pictures count toward the building of a story that will eventually expose some large-scale corruption. Dead Rising was not only a massive financial success when released in 2006, 79 it is also one of the very few games in which the player can assume the role of an actual journalist. In Dead Rising, the outbreak of thousands of zombies prompts the quarantine of a small town in Colorado called Willamette, and it is up to Frank West, veteran war correspondent/freelance photojournalist, to get the scoop. Little is known about West, except that he has a history of covering wars as a freelance photojournalist, and he prefers to work on his own whenever possible. He is a smug yet determined journalist who will do anything to get a story. Most of West’s duties in the game include rescuing survivors trapped in the mall and snapping pictures of the carnage he encounters, most of which West creates, as the game encourages nonstop brutality against the hordes of zombies. West is a typical manly hero figure who must single-handedly save the world. West is assigned cases throughout the game that map out the progression of the plot. In addition 42 to the main cases, West also will receive “Scoop missions,” which primarily involve rescuing civilians from danger. The main mode of the game is called 72-hour Mode. Over this three-day period, West must discover the story behind the zombie infestation, rescue as many civilians as possible, kill as many zombies as it takes to get from one point to the next, battle “psychopaths,” 80 collect a series of bombs so the mall won’t blow up, avoid being killed by elite Army forces that arrive to eliminate all traces of the outbreak and, finally, be on the roof in time to be picked up by a helicopter and flown to safety where he can report what he has found to the world. In other words, just another day in the life of a photojournalist. The game blends a heavy dose of survival-horror with action- adventure and many familiar trappings of war-correspondent films to create a unique yet familiar gaming experience. Beyond Good and Evil was not a financial hit when it was released in 2003, but it attracted a large cult following and is now considered by many people to be one of the most underrated games of all time. 81 The story follows a 20-year-old woman named Jade as she struggles to expose the truth behind a conspiracy that has enslaved her planet of Hillys. Her biography, as it appears on the Ubisoft.com website, is as follows: Jade is an action reporter/photographer. She owns Jade Reporting and earns her living by producing various photographic reports of commission. Jade is a lively, strong and sassy woman with a subtle femininity. She has a marked taste for adventure and justice, and wants to bring about change. She’s very attached and attentive to her Uncle Pey’j and the orphaned children she has taken in. She’s a top-notch photographer, known for her keen wits, investigative skills and uncanny stealth abilities. She’s also a master of martial-arts – her Dai-Jo stick skills are unmatched in combat and she’s got a perfect aim using her gyro disc glove…Her prized possession is her camera – the one and only thing she received from her parents as a child – Jade’s only real memory of her family. After being contacted by IRIS, she becomes the lead action-reporter for the rebel cause. She fights 43 against prejudice and propaganda in the name of her people and for the right to know the truth beyond the typical perceptions of good and evil. 82 A rebel movement called the IRIS Network, which publishes an underground newsletter to spread anti-government ideology, eventually recruits Jade. With the help of her uncle Pey’j and a few friends she meets along the way, Jade and company must battle through expansive environments, solve puzzles and collect photographic evidence that proves there is an alliance between the Alpha Sections, the military dictatorship that allegedly protects Hillys, and the “enemy” alien forces, the DomZ. The IRIS Network’s newsletter eventually publishes Jade’s photographs, which ultimately leads to the ousting of the Alpha Sections and once again brings peace to the planet of Hillys. Character Design A journalist makes himself the hero of a story; a reporter is just a witness. 83 - Alex Barris Most readily definable of the iconographic elements of the genre are those related to costume and setting. The battered hat with a press tag stuffed in the band, the rumpled suit and jacket with patches on the elbows are familiar identifiers…The traditional costume of the journalist seems a perfect reflection of the character itself, at once indicating a level of professionalism while at the same time demonstrating a degree of independence in the refusal to conform to current requirements of fashion or even to socially accepted notions of proper appearance. 84 - Richard Ness There is little doubt that the image Richard Ness describes is due in large part to the films of Frank Capra and the subsequent generations of films Capra’s work inspired. 85 44 And while the specifics of the journalist’s costume develop in step with changing times, the changes, as Ness points out, are merely functional rather than fashionable. Because movie journalists appeared in plain dress 86 rather than in outfits that put them in a class about the average moviegoer, they were able to attract a broader range of the audience. 87 Videogame developers share the same goal when they design game characters. 88 Tim Schafer, president of Double Fine Productions and creator of two groundbreaking computer games, Full Throttle and Grim Fandango, 89 believes “people want to be a hero. If ultra-famous, superstar Hollywood actors wouldn't kill to play the role, then more work is necessary.” 90 The more emotional investment a character can evoke from the player, the more successful the gaming experience will ultimately be. In terms of specific character types like the journalist, game developers are not as tied to history as filmmakers are, since videogames have only relatively recently become an entertainment medium capable of rivaling motion pictures. Developers, therefore, are able to approach traditional character types/styles from a nontraditional perspective. Because of this, videogames are able to create unique, while still historically conscious, images. West and Jade deviate in many ways from the fast-talking, sharp-tongued “hard-drinking, cynical newspaperman” image created by Frank Capra and others in early twentieth-century film. 91 However, these characters, with their cameras swinging around their necks and individual approaches to fashion, are quintessential journalists and, subsequently, heroes. 45 In his review of Dead Rising, video game journalist Charles Onyett stated: If the profession of photojournalism ever needed a poster boy, Dead Rising's Frank West is it. He doesn't just cover stories on location. He splatters the story's brains across a movie theatre floor, kicks it while it's down, then drop kicks the next story in the chest. 92 In other words, Frank West is a stud. As far as fictional creations go, West is about as physically flawless as they come. In this way, he carries on the tradition of attractive film journalists that includes such famous figures as Cary Grant (His Girl Friday), Clark Gable (It Happened One Night), Bing Crosby (Here Comes the Groom), Kirk Douglas (Ace in the Hole) and Robert Redford (All the President’s Men). While not immaculately dressed and presumably achieved on the cheap, journalists on film show enough fashion sense to dress appropriately for their times and surroundings. These fashions range from the classic suit and hat combination of the 1920s–1940s as seen in such films as The Front Page and It Happened One Night, to the jacketless, shirt-tie-slacks combination seen in newsrooms in films like All the President’s Men and Broadcast News. For West, fashion traditions are not entirely applicable. His somewhat unconventional outfit consists of a black leather jacket, white Polo shirt, jeans and a stylish haircut, none of which violates the “socially accepted notions of proper appearance.” 93 West’s outfit appears to be more expensive, despite its casual appearance, and more fashion-conscious than his fictional journalist brethren are. Still, West satisfies enough of Ness’ requirements to be categorized among other famous fictional journalist. Judging solely on appearances, West is a classic “tall, dark and handy,” 94 hotshot figure, and looks like the stereotypical hero journalist, only slightly updated to mirror the styles of the 21st century. 46 Like West, Jade is another attractive journalist. 95 Even though Jade is from the fictional planet of Hillys, her green leather jacket, loose-fitting cargo pants, hip haircut and green lipstick are style choices that one might run across any day of the week on modern-day Earth. As far as fictional journalists are concerned, Jade is a new breed, in that she challenges the traditional image of the female journalist established in early 20th century film. 96 Jade violates the physical aspect of the “newspaperman” image in a few interesting ways. For one, her name literally means “a disreputable woman, or a flirtatious girl.” 97 Even though Jade is innocent and respectable, the name is still decidedly feminine. Also, her clothes, mainly her tight, midriff-bearing t-shirt, are used to accentuate her femininity, and since she remains in the same clothes throughout the course of the game, her image never changes. Jade is also a freelance photojournalist, which means she does not have any requirements of fashion to satisfy. Jade is free to present herself in whatever way she wants, thereby demonstrating her independence, individuality and prerogative to operate beyond the established newsroom standards and setting that confined her female counterparts in early Hollywood films. 98 Unlike the traditional image of the newspaperwoman where female reporters were constantly forced to prove their worth in the eyes of male colleagues, 99 Jade never appears unworthy simply because she is a woman. In fact, at one point in Beyond Good and Evil, the blind hotel manager/IRIS member, Peepers, says of Jade, “You’d have to be blind. That kid is bursting with talent.” 100 When Jade meets up with the IRIS Network’s 47 “best” reporter, Double H, a spoof of meatheads from 1960s science-fiction films, there is never a sense of competition between them. They both have their strengths and weaknesses. Double H is able to use brute force to smash open doors and dispose of guards, but he cannot fit into small spaces as Jade can. Similarly, Jade is more agile, physically and intellectually, and can use stealth to maneuver around potential confrontations, but she needs Double H to open doors and kill guards. With teamwork, they are able to achieve success in the end, dismissing the classic image of the female journalist as someone incapable of gaining equality in a male-dominated profession. Setting The journalism angle afforded an opportunity to place characters in exotic settings and it was not uncommon to find American correspondents involved in exciting feats of derring-do in fantasy locales. The war correspondent enabled filmmakers to exploit situations that were currently in the public eye…On a more fanciful level, films such as the Italian-made War Correspondents (1913) found a journalist overseas involved in thrills worthy of a serial and the climactic race to get in a big story provided a perfect structural device for the silent era. 101 – Richard Ness Videogames tap into the deepest traditions of film, fiction and other media, and use that inspiration to expand and advance the experience in ways no other medium can. Dead Rising and Beyond Good and Evil are in many ways replicas of Hollywood war correspondent/conspiracy films. Both games place their narratives in “fantasy” locales and both games exploit those locales and the journalistic profession to achieve exciting ends. It is helpful to understand some of the filmic influences shared by the games 48 regarding how they handle setting and the role setting plays in the making of a hero and a journalist. The cover of Dead Rising says it all. 102 The game’s developer’s were unabashedly influenced by George Romero’s cult-classic Dawn of the Dead, in which a group of townspeople find themselves trapped in a mall full of zombies, clearly influenced the game developers at Capcom. Not only did Romero’s decision to place his zombie movie inside a shopping mall serve as an ingenious critique of American consumerism, it also broke cinematic ground in that it turned one of America’s most recognizable and comfortable settings into the seventh circle of hell. 103 Dead Rising revisits Romero’s idea, but makes war correspondent/freelance journalist Frank West the main character and adds a camera to the arsenal of weapons used to battle the zombie hordes. West’s surroundings, specifically the tens of thousands of flesh-eating zombies that inhabit the Willamette mall and encompassing grounds, are reminiscent of those in which film war correspondents must navigate. Dead Rising owes much of its success to such films as Under Fire (1983) and Guadalcanal Diary (1943), which sought to highlight the brutality and harsh reality experienced by war correspondents in treacherous and life-threatening situations. Guadalcanal Diary, based on journalist Richard Tregaskis’ book, was close to a last- stand film…Critics praised Guadalcanal Diary for the documentary feel of the invasion itself, and as one of the few films which did not use Hollywood motivations (love, bitterness, etc.), but simply had the soldiers [sic.] driven by the will to stay alive. 104 49 West finds himself in a last-stand situation as well, one that requires him to find out the truth behind the zombie outbreak and survive until help can arrive. Instead of struggling to survive on a battlefield, West battles to survive in a mall. The Willamette mall also represents an important fixture found in some of the most well known journalism movies of all time. The roll top desk in The Front Page, the cave in which reporter Chuck Tatum finds Lee Minos in Ace in the Hole…This physical manifestation of concealment or revelation reinforces the concept of truth which provides the motivating force in the genre pattern. 105 Somewhere in the mall lies the key to unlocking the mystery surrounding the events that are unfolding around West. The inhabitants of the mall, mainly the zombies, but also the stray psycho-killers that West must battle over the course of the game, represent motivating factors as well, in that they are bringers of death to anyone who crosses paths with them. Like traditional war correspondents who must maneuver on the battlefield and protect themselves against warring factions, West is a journalist in a tough situation that requires constant awareness, unwavering physical strength and unrelenting devotion to exposing the truth. In this way, Frank West establishes himself nobly among other great fictional journalist heroes. Similar to West, Jade is a character of her time and place. Even though Beyond Good and Evil takes place on a fictional planet, Hillys is a completely realized, densely populated and complex world. Michel Ancel, the creator/director of the game, said “having an action reporter as the central character means that you can create an interesting mixture of 50 various game-play styles – investigative journalism, travel, dangerous encounters and a close relationship with the population of Hillys, the planet where the game is set. How the people react to Jade's articles is also an interesting aspect of the game and original to BG&E.” 106 Ancel echoes those made by Thomas H. Zynda regarding why journalism fit so well into the medium of film. “The press is…clothed with an aura of importance and some mystery that lends it well to the dramatic requirements of popular art.” 107 In this way, Beyond Good and Evil differs greatly from Dead Rising. While Dead Rising is somewhat limited in scope, it also understands the type of game it is and pulls it off with spectacular results. Beyond Good and Evil, however, is a bit more ambitious in that it wants to provide the player with the experience of unraveling a conspiracy on a geographically large scale. Similar to Dead Rising, Evil allows players to traverse the world in whatever manner they wish. 108 Of course, the plot will not unfold unless certain goals are met and information is acquired, 109 but if the player wishes to, he/she could spend all their time in the Akuda bar playing a Hillyian version of air- hockey and never expose the truth behind the Alpha Sections’ supposed conspiratorial relationship with the DomZ. And while not every game encourages as much freedom as BG&E, the very nature of videogames is that the player and the character he/she controls become active participants in the action of the story. 110 This is one of the key areas in which BG&E shines brightest, because this design choice mirrors the sort of freedom one would expect to find in the real world. 51 Evil revels in the idea of concealment spaces being metaphors for the need to expose hidden truths. In West and Jade’s cases, the only way to uncover that truth is to descend into the darkest regions of the story’s universe and risk life and limb in the process. 111 For Jade, the answers lie inside various DomZ facilities scattered around the planet, and it is up to the player to figure out how to gain access to them and how to maneuver inside them without being captured or killed. Jade lives on an island in a lighthouse just outside the city proper 112 with her Uncle Pey’j (a humanoid pig) and a dozen orphaned children (many of whom are also mixed species) whom Jade has adopted. The lighthouse serves as a safe/save point that the player can return to at any time throughout the game. 113 More importantly, it gives the player a place to call home, which in turn lends a sense of humanity to Jade that would be lacking if the player only saw Jade in the context of a newsroom or a single location for the entire game. 114 Similar to Dead Rising, the truth behind the conspiracy threatening Jade’s world resides somewhere beyond the security of her home. Unfortunately for Jade, this means traversing various military facilities and factories, and since all these facilities require special keys to access them, it becomes part of Jade’s responsibilities to discover ways to acquire them. These facilities serve as traditional concealment spaces, which the journalist must carefully navigate in order to expose the truth being housed within them. 52 The Price of Bringing Truth to the People The discovery (or in some cases the concealment) of the truth also has implications for the profession itself and becomes the motivation for examining ethical issues or conflicts in the practice of the profession…The journalism film is defined by recognizable elements of mise-en-scene that establish this pattern as the product of a set of determined icons or codes and of a definable social order. 115 – Richard Ness So far, this discussion has examined two crucial aspects of any story involving a hero and/or a journalist: character design and location. Frank West and Jade are physically outfitted to adhere to as well as distance themselves from the classic image of the photojournalist, and they both find themselves in environments and situations that require equal amounts of bravery, dedication, intelligence and journalistic skill. The third, and final, element involves the methods by which Frank West and Jade employ their journalistic abilities to expose the truths behind the conspiracies that threaten the existence of their respective worlds, and the ultimate impact those truths have on their worlds. Dead Rising opens with Frank West flying into the small town of Willamette, Colorado by helicopter. Along the way, he engages in a crude but composed conversation with Ed, the pilot. When West says he received a tip about a big story supposedly taking place in town, Ed says, “In a nowhere little town like that? They sure didn’t mention anything about it on TV,” to which West smarmily replies “Yeah. Well, I’m freelance, pal. I don’t make my living waiting for the TV to tell me what to cover.” 116 53 This exchange serves two clear purposes. First, it is a harsh, if brief, critique of the television news media, which Frank apparently considers ineffective and inefficient, relying entirely on the work of the individual news gatherer without whom there would be nothing to report during the evening broadcast. Second, it provides a sliver of insight into what West’s role is in the game. Before the player even takes control of him, it is clear that West is the hero of the story. However, it is not clear what kind of hero he will become. Over the course of West and Ed’s exchange, and the entire opening sequence, West comes off as a brash, go-getting “derring-do” who is good at his job and has the experience to back it up. As the sequence continues, the player takes control of Frank’s camera and uses it to take pictures of random acts of carnage and destruction that unfold on the streets below. Zombies surround vehicles, pedestrians are pulled out of their cars and devoured, and a gas station explodes, sending fire and debris into the sky. During one scene, a woman fights off a surrounding horde of zombies on a rooftop. She frantically waves to get the helicopter’s attention, but before she can be saved, she is tackled by a zombie, sending her plummeting off the building to her death. 117 At various points during this scene, Frank’s pictures earn different amounts of experience points depending on how their framing, composition and whether or not they satisfy genre specifications. 118 Each of these scenes represents another opportunity for Frank to earn prestige points, which unlock special abilities and increase current ones. 54 This section of the game offers an interesting commentary on the profession of photojournalism. Ethically, West is in the right. He does not violate, at least in the opening section of the game, any of the rules set out by the National Press Photographers Association’s code of ethics. 119 But stepping back from the reality of the game world in which West has no control over the events that transpire around him, the ethical discussion becomes more complicated. The NPPA’s second code of ethics states, “Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.” In the game world of Dead Rising, West never violates this code, because he is simply a character involved in an unfolding drama. However, the player understands that game designers and animators strategically placed the sequences to allow the player the opportunity to feel like a “real” photojournalist who is able to capture actual events as they happen. Adding to the realism is the fact that the events only play out for a short amount of time, and if the player fails to take the picture in time, the opportunity is gone. Through this simulation, the player is given the chance to experience the intensity, the terror, the immediacy and, in the case of photos involving death and destruction, the nauseating reality that comes with being a photojournalist in the middle of a war zone. 120 According to Howard Good, the image of the hero photojournalist/war correspondent extends back to “Rudyard Kipling’s The Light That Failed and Stephen Crane’s Active Service (both 1899). Anglo-American fiction also contributed its just share to the glamorization of war correspondence.” 121 Thanks to their portrayals in early American memoirs and novels, the war correspondents became fantastical figures in the public 55 consciousness. 122 “But it wasn’t until Foreign Correspondent (1940), directed by Alfred Hitchcock and co-scripted (without credit) by the ubiquitous Ben Hecht, that he was finally and firmly established as a popular film hero.” 123 This image suffered greatly during the Vietnam War as most of the glamour that had surrounded the image of the war correspondent during World War I and especially World War II was stripped away in favor of an image that was “less colorful, more coldly professional than his predecessors.” 124 The migration from novels to film in the early twentieth century is similar to the migration from films to videogames in the late twentieth century, and with that migration, came the genetic material of characters and images from the previous media that inspired it. What the player sees in Frank West is a combination of traditional hero journalist folklore and the disturbing reality portrayed in such films as Salvador and Under Fire. These two images combine to create a character that is strictly in line with his fictional brethren while at the same time representative of a new brand of hero journalist. West is, at least evolutionarily, more prepared for the insanity that awaits him on the battlefield than the journalists who went before him. But even West, who has cut his teeth covering wars independent of official news outlets 125 and has the lessons of history on his side, shows disgust at some of the carnage he witnesses over the course of the game. 126 Fortunately for West, the kindred spirit of Russell Price (Nick Nolte), the veteran war photographer torn between ethics and humanity in the film Under Fire, lives on inside him. 127 Throughout Dead Rising, West references his past as a war photographer, but it 56 does not impress people the way it might in any situation other than one where zombies have overrun a mall and are eating people. 128 Early in the game, a group of survivors is barricading the entrance to the mall. When West tries to take pictures of the massive zombie crowd just beyond the doors, a man named Ryan gets in West’s way, completely unsympathetic to West’s journalistic pursuits. He says, “Feel like making yourself useful? Take a look around the mall and bring anything we can use for the barricade back here.” 129 Because the player understands the purpose of the game (take pictures to expose the truth behind the zombie outbreak), and because West understands his role as a hero journalist who must survive long enough to safely escape and file the story, there is no hesitation when West is told to stop taking pictures and to help with the barricade. In this situation, West clearly satisfies the image of the journalist as someone who does whatever it takes to get the story. However, West’s actions are shown in a favorable light, as he is seen putting aside his journalistic glory to help his fellow man. This is not to say that West lacks the desire for self-preservation. However, if he had decided to follow rule number five of the NPAA’s code of ethics – do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events – not only would there be no story to tell, there wouldn’t be anyone left to tell it. 130 Consequently, this conflict complicates the image of the journalist presented in the game. While West commits countless acts of violence in the pursuit of his report, the warlike environment in which he operates makes the player more sympathetic to his actions. 131 57 The image presented in the game depicts one of journalism’s greatest challenges: the struggle between objectivity and journalistic attachment. 132 Under Fire’s evaluation of objectivity is important to note in the current debate on journalism of attachment and detachment. It represents the journalist acting on a higher moral cause, to try and save lives, at the expense of his commitment to impartiality. However, the film also represents that his abandonment comes at a great sacrifice, both personally and professionally. Under Fire warns that while objectivity may not always be appropriate in the war zones of the world, its abandonment can have grave consequences. 133 West’s photojournalism is an integral part of the game in terms of how he will expose the truth behind the outbreak, however it does not play as significant a role in the actual progression of the game as it does in Beyond Good and Evil. At its heart, Dead Rising is a survival horror game, with the emphasis on survival. 134 With the exception of one photo challenge mission, 135 West is never required to take photographs of specific events or pieces of evidence. The only requirements that matter to the plot involve the survival of key characters and a few scattered missions involving the transportation of characters from one area to another. 136 However, the fact that West risks his life in pursuit of a story is enough to make up for the lack of journalistically motivated missions in the game. 137 The fact that West’s camera is listed among his weapons carries enormous contextual significance in terms of how West relates to the classic image of the photojournalist. 138 Over the course of the game, West encounters characters who have definite opinions about journalists and the news media. During one mission, West must provide backup for 58 a Homeland Security agent named Brad. Afterward, West asks Brad about the zombie outbreak. Brad says, “Sorry, I've got nothing to tell you. I don't know what Jessie told you but as far as I'm concerned we're through working together. So you cover your zombie story and leave the rest to us.” West quickly sees an angle and asks, “You guys are looking for someone here, aren't ya?” West holds out his camera so Brad can see the image displayed on the camera’s video screen. Brad grabs for the camera and asks, “Who is that? Where did you take that?” Frank pulls the camera out of Brad’s reach and calmly replies, “You help me. I help you.” Brad is visibly upset, and finally he lets loose on Frank. “You're one hell of a journalist aren't you, Frank? A hotheaded, underhanded, hotshot paparazzi with nothing better to do than to invade people's privacy.” Frank, again, smoothly replies, “I try. You got a point?” 139 This moment solidifies West’s place in the lineage of fictional journalists. As Loren Ghiglione states, “People love to hate the journalist.” 140 However, the player’s disdain for West is somewhat tempered, since any ill will felt toward West must in some way be directed back at the player, since the player dictates the majority of West’s actions. Also, the player is fully aware, and the countless pictures of slain zombie corpses are proof, that West is much more than a typical paparazzi figure. By agreeing with Brad, West plays up Brad’s stereotypical view of the photojournalist as a selfish, conniving member of a corrupt press by agreeing with him. But given the fact that there are several different endings to the game depending on how successfully West operates in his limited time frame, it is clear that West is far from a cookie-cutter character 141 and is, in fact, quite a successful hero journalist. 59 Beyond Gore and Evil Zombies “This is going to be one hell of a story.” “Remember don’t try to be a hero.” 142 –Beyond Good and Evil The first sequence in Beyond Good and Evil is a television-news broadcast by the Hillyian news network, HTV. 143 The scene cuts to Jade and one of her animal friends meditating on a cliff, overlooking a serene ocean. Unlike Frank West, Jade is not immediately associated with the profession of journalism. Whereas the player’s first action with West involves taking pictures of vicious zombie attacks from the doorway of a swooping helicopter, the first actions performed by the player as Jade are physical and heroic. A dozen DomZ attack Jade’s lighthouse and several children in the area after the security laser grid surrounding the lighthouse shuts down due to insufficient funds. Jade repels the attacks with cinematic grace and agility, aided in part by her uncle Pey’j, who comes to her rescue after one of the creatures traps her. After these feats of heroism by Jade and Pey’j, HTV cameras and broadcaster arrives on the scene to interview Jade about the attack. However, instead of acknowledging Jade’s actions, the reporter jovially asks Jade to comment about the courageous efforts of the Alpha Sections. This sequence not so subtly establishes that the media on Hillys have been corrupted by the government and has become a mouthpiece for the Alpha Sections’ propaganda machine to keep the 60 civilians of the planet ignorant and in constant fear of the DomZ and the IRIS Network, which the government claims is a terrorist organization working with the alien invaders. When Jade wakes up the next morning, she immediately receives an assignment that can help her pay the power bill and give her company, Jade Reporting, some much-needed income. A scientist asks Jade to photograph every species of animal on the planet in exchange for money. Pey’j objects, saying, “Who would want to take pictures of that? We’re in the middle of a war!” 144 Nonetheless, bills have to be paid, and so Jade does what she must. Soon afterward, Jade receives an email requesting her for an assignment at a place called the Black Isles. Accompanied by her uncle, Jade meets with a man who claims he is a courier for an unknown person. Jade’s assignment is to get photographic evidence of an alien life form believed to be residing in an abandoned mine shaft. After a series of puzzles, minor scuffles and a boss battle, Jade delivers the pictures to the courier. The man turns out to be a recruiter for the underground rebels, the IRIS Network, and the assignment was her initiation test. During a brief scene, the man informs Jade of the conspiracy involving the DomZ and the Hillyian government. 145 Jade expresses genuine surprise and even skepticism when she hears this claim, displaying a fully functioning journalistic mind at work. The man asks Jade to joint their cause and to “fight the good fight” by “bringing the truth of the conspiracy to the people.” 146 Jade soon joins the IRIS Network as their “action- reporter,” 147 under the pen name “Shauni” after it is revealed that their star reporter 61 “Double H” has been missing for several days. It is Jade’s responsibility to pick up the investigation where Double H left off, and ultimately get the story of her career. Just as Frank West uses his camera to document the carnage and destruction he encounters/causes in Dead Rising, Jade must also capture significant moments with her trusty camera and report the truth behind the conspiracy that threatens her planet. Each major revelation comes after complex sequences of puzzle solving, combat and stealth in which Jade must maneuver around laser beams, collect missing fuses to open doors or power-up elevators, sneak past guards and sometimes even fight them in order to gain access to privileged areas of major Alpha Sections facilities. Each new facility Jade investigates requires the adoption of a new set of strategies on the part of the player. This constant adaptation to changing environments is a requirement of heroes and journalists alike. Heroes routinely face challenges that require creative solutions and quick intellect. Journalists encounter all manner of barriers, such as unresponsive sources or bureaucratic interference, in the pursuit of stories, especially explosive stories involving governmental wrongdoing. Ultimately, five photographs establish the foundation of Jade and the IRIS Network’s story against the Alpha Sections. 148 Each time Jade acquires a new photo, it is instantly emailed back to IRIS headquarters where it is then published in the IRIS Network’s underground newsletter. As Jade’s investigation progresses, more civilians become aware of the government’s corruption. When Jade walks through the Pedestrian District at the beginning of the game, she overhears conversations between civilians in which the 62 civilians praise the Alpha Sections for protecting Hillys against the DomZ invasions. Over the course of the game and as more of Jade’s photos are released, these conversations turn progressively more anti-Alpha Sections, eventually reaching the point of outright protest, with people holding signs that read “Shauni + IRIS= Peace!” and “Alpha Sections Murders!” Unlike her spiritual ancestors from 1950s comic books, Jade’s journalism skills are essential to her success as a member of an idyllic watchdog media. 149 When Jade and company make their final report from the Alpha Sections’ moon base, the perspective shifts to Hillys, where civilians crowd around one of the countless televisions scattered around the city (a la Big Brother in George Orwell’s 1984) and watching the same propagandizing broadcast heard throughout the game. Suddenly, Jade and company highjack the broadcast, and Pey’j delivers the breaking news. Look at these photos that we have taken. The Alpha Sections are the accomplices of the DomZ forces. The Alpha Sections are the ones that have been kidnapping the Hillyians and taking them to the DomZ…Hillyians, we’ve been manipulated and deceived. Stop listening to the lies that the Alpha Sections are telling you. 150 Instantly, the crowds begin chanting, “Down with the Alpha Sections! Revolution!” The crowd begins rioting, toppling over the enormous television screen in the process. Once the inhabitants of Hillys learn the truth and they oust the Alpha Sections from power, the government’s control over the media is lifted and for the first time in the game, television and radio broadcasts praise the efforts of the IRIS Network. “The truth has finally been revealed by our trustworthy colleagues from the IRIS Network…Once again, the 63 honorable journalistic profession was able to show that it had a preponderant role in history.” 151 64 Chapter 2 Endnotes 77 However, Ubisoft recently released Lost: Via Domus, a video game based on the television series Lost. In the game, players take the role of the amnesia stricken Elliot Maslow, a previously unseen passenger on Oceanic Flight 815, the ill-fated flight that ended up crashing on a mysterious island in the South Pacific. Elliot is a photojournalist, but his profession is boiled down to taking pictures during flashbacks in order to restore his memory. While he shares many similarities with Frank West from Dead Rising, the similarities are confined to physical prowess and good looks. Unlike West, whose motivation for employing his photojournalist skills is to eventually expose a government conspiracy and save the world, the stakes for Maslow’s already limited journalistic foundation are quite low since Maslow’s only motivation is to uncover his past and discover why a fellow passenger is trying to kill him. Since Maslow’s draws no motivation from a deeply felt responsibility to the public and the common good, he could hardly be considered a true journalist. For this reason, Lost: Via Domus stands as just another failed attempt to present an image of the photojournalist in video games. 78 Dead Rising appeared exclusively on the Xbox 360. 79 Armin Siljkovic, Dead Rising Breaks US Sales Record (2006). <http://digitalbattle.com/2006/08/30/dead-rising-breaks-us-sales-records/> Accessed February 2007. 80 These boss battles are plentiful in the game, and each one is disturbingly unique from the other. Battling them is essential to West’s progress in the game, and if too much time is spent fighting them, West could potentially miss out on case missions or scoop missions. The psychopaths range from a manic, chainsaw-wielding clown (Adam), to a family of crazed snipers, to a sadistic security guard (Jo Slade) to a man pushing a shopping cart full of spikes (Steven), to fellow photographer turned sadistic killer Kent to the main baddie Carlito, who the player must fight on three separate occasions. 81 A quick read through some of the player reviews on the popular gaming website IGN.com shows a clear pattern of agreement that Beyond Good and Evil did not receive the appreciation it deserved. <http://rr.xbox.ign.com/rrobj/xbox/object/482232/> Accessed February 2007. 82 Jade was orphaned as a young child and doesn’t know who her parents are or where she comes from. She grew up in the poor area of Hillys, where she quickly acquired defensive abilities, street smarts and a strong sense of human solidarity. She lives on a small island in Hillys with her adoptive uncle Pey’j and many children who have lost their parents during the recent night attacks (or rather, children whose parents have mysteriously disappeared). Ubisoft.com, Beyond Good and Evil (2003). <http://beyondgoodevil.com/us/main.php> Accessed February 2007. 65 83 Alex Barris, Stop the Presses: The Newspaperman in American Films (A.S. Barnes and Company, New York, 1976), p. 95. 84 Richard Ness, From Headline Hunter to Superman: A Journalism Filmography (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD, 1997), p.2. 85 “Peter Warne is a prototype of the male newspaper reporter in motion pictures, an image of the newshawk, part of a gallery of journalists created out of past stereotypes and presented fresh and seemingly spontaneously by Frank Capra, one of the most popular American directors in film history, and his writers, who were responsible for much of what Americans thought they knew about their journalists in the twentieth century. Those familiar images still focus our thinking today – whether they be the energetic, opportunistic reporter who would do anything for a scoop; or the cynical big-city newspaper editor committed to getting the story first even if it means strangling his reporters to do it or the tough, sarcastic sob sister trying desperately to outdo her male competition.” Joe Saltzman, Frank Capra and the Image of the Journalist in American Film (Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California, 2002), p. 2. 86 “The well-worn appearance of the journalist’s attire indicated an occupation that allows little time for consideration of appearance and a financial status that does not provide for continual concessions to changes in fashion.” Ness, p.2. 87 “A movie type consists of a collection of character traits. In incorporating these traits, the type must remain simple enough to have broad and continuing appeal, yet offer enough variety to keep from boring or alienating the audience.” Ness, p. 131. 88 “As Scott McCloud famously put it in his non-fiction comic-about-comics Understanding Comics, you want to design your main character to be as abstract as possible, if you want the reader to identify with him/her/it. If you add a whole lot of specific detail to your main character, you are just adding differences between him and the reader. It also has to do with voice, and what the character says. Note that while Jade isn't completely mute like Link from The Legend of Zelda, she never says anything particularly controversial or extensive -- it's the other characters in the game that do most of the talking, and have the strongest personalities. The more details that define a character, the more you distance the player from it and the less engaged the player becomes.” Chris Kohler, Jade Is Black?!: Racial Ambiguity in Games (Wired.com, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/02/jades_black_rac.html> Accessed February 2007. 89 Gamespot.com Presents: The Greatest Games of All Time <http://www.gamespot.com/gamespot/features/all/greatestgames/p-19.html> Accessed February 2007. 66 90 Ryan O’Donnell, Tim Schafer: Adventures in Character Design (Gamespy.com, 2004). <http://archive.gamespy.com/gdc2004/schafer/> Accessed February 2007. 91 Pauline Kael, Raising Kane: The Citizen Kane Book (Limelight Editions, New York, 1984), p. 25. 92 Charles Onyett, Dead Rising: Review (IGN.com, 2006). <http://xbox.ign.com/articles/440/440089p3.html> Accessed February 2007. 93 Ness, p.2. 94 “‘You're marvelous - in a loathsome way!’ says Rosalind Russell to Cary Grant. That's something of an overstatement because the tall, dark and handy Cary isn't loathsome. But in manners, morals and monkey business he surely is setting the Earle audience up to a bunch of semi-horrified laughs in His Girl Friday, celluloid resurrection of The Front Page, one of the hottest opuses ever dashed off by Messrs. MacArthur and Hecht.” Mary Harris, His Girl Friday: Review (The Washington Post, February 10, 1940). 95 Once again, videogames and film find common ground in perpetuating the idea that successful journalists are equally appealing to the eyes. 96 “Unlike other film heroines at this time, the female reporters were not as easily subjugated by the camera’s gaze, since women in the genre are often responsible for investigating the action. In their efforts to get the story, the female reporters become motivators, rather than objects, of the camera’s gaze. They also often underwent a form of masculization, with the female reporters adopting male-associated names and modes of dress designed to downplay their femininity.” Ness, p. 72. 97 According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Jade also means, “a broken-down, vicious, or worthless horse.” Howard Good discusses the significance of one of film’s most famous female journalists, Torchy Blane. “Torchy’s very name recapitulates the conflict between work and love underlying her film series. On the one hand, the name suggests her brilliance as a detective-reporter. On the other, it suggests that loneliness and heartache wait for any woman who dares to stray beyond the conventional boundaries of marriage, home and family. Ashes, that’s what’s in a name.” Howard Good, Girl Reporter: Gender, Journalism, and the Movies (Scarecrow Press Inc., 1998), p. 12. 98 Since Jade is a computer-generated character, she has no real say in how she looks or how she is designed. However, the player is expected to accept her appearance as something she was responsible for putting together before the game began. 99 “Never thoroughly welcomed in the city room, women felt continual pressure to prove they belonged there.” Good, Girl Reporter, p. 48. 67 100 Beyond Good and Evil (2003). 101 Ness, p. 7. 102 “This game was not developed, approved or licensed by the owners or creators of George A. Romero’s Dawn of the Dead.” Dead Rising (2006). 103 Scott Foundas, Dawn of the Dead: Review (Variety, 2004). <http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117923411.html?categoryid=31&cs=1> Accessed February 2007. 104 Courson Maxwell Taylor, The Newspaper Movies: An Analysis of the Rise and Decline of the News Gatherer as a Hero in American Motion Pictures, 1900-1974 (University of Hawaii, 1976), p. 123. 105 Linda K. Fuller and Paul Loukides, Beyond the Stars: Stock Characters in American Popular Film (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Ohio, 1990), p. 4. 106 Xequted, Michael Ancel: Beyond Good and Evil (Xequted, 2004). <http://www.xequted.com/articles/120.html> Accessed February 2007. 107 Good, p. 5. 108 “Michael Ancel: We made Beyond Good & Evil like a real world; we built the planet system, the mountains, all the creatures... in order to let the player move freely in this world if he wants to. Personally, I've got a few favorite places in the game where I know that I will be able to enjoy a great sunset and where the sea and sounds are cool. I hope that every player will take time to look at the world and to find their own cool places!” (Xequted, 2004). <http://www.xequted.com/articles/120.html> Accessed February 2007. 109 One of the essential traits of a hero is “he must possess a strong will to action.” Taylor, p. 8. In videogames, will to action is essential to the plot’s progression. 110 “Players of a game are even more actively involved with the game’s characters; besides just observing, they actually control the onscreen character – their movement, what they look at, what they pick up, what they do. Insofar as the player is invested in the game, he or she is ‘hurt’ when the character is – the character’s injury or death punishes the player, who has to expend collected resources, spend time finding new resources or replay a difficult segment. While movie viewers certainly identify with on-screen character, game players are more strongly involved with their on-screen personae.” Sacha A. Howells, “Watching a Game, Playing a Movie: When Media Collide,” ScreenPlay, p. 116. 68 111 “Next to the war correspondent, the investigative reporter, who always works tirelessly to aid the public, is often the only other legitimate hero of journalism films. He or she usually risks life and limb to get the story that will help the public. They join a handful of editors and even publishers who do not let personal gain or safety stand in the way of running down a story that exposes crime or corruption (James Stewart as P.G. McNeal in Call Northside 777 or Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein and Robert Redford as Bob Woodward in All the President’s Men. They often end up dead – killed by a mobster they were trying to expose, or a crooked policeman, or a corrupt politician (Reporter Jerry McKibbon played by William Holden in The Turning Point). More often they end up beaten – but never broken. They are always threatened and show great courage in putting their lives on the line to get the story in the newspaper or on television. Many of the reporters who are killed in action are secondary actors whose deaths are avenged by the star reporters. These journalists are expendable in Hollywood because they give the hero a motive to go after the bad guys with a vengeance: Their pal has been murdered and nothing will stop the reporter from capturing the killers and putting their mugs on page one and their bodies in jail. Newspapermen and women are incredibly loyal to their publications and, most of all, to their colleagues.” Joe Saltzman, Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: a Unique Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media (IJPC Journal, Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California), p. 36. <http://ijpc.org/AEJMC%20Paper%20San%20Antonio%20Saltzman%202005.pdf> Accessed February 2007. 112 Hillys is largely a water planet. The main modes of transportation are hovercrafts, flying cars and spaceships. Most of the traveling is done by hovercraft, but at the end of the game, the player pilots a spaceship to the planet’s moon. The downtown portion of Hillys, called the Pedestrian District, is bustling and vibrant, and traffic is heavy in the canals and thoroughfares that crisscross through the broken portions of the large island. The player is allowed to dock and explore the Pedestrian District by foot at any point. Most of Jade’s missions either begin or end in the city, due in large part to the fact that the IRIS Network’s secret headquarters is located in one of the rooms in the Akuda Bar, a popular club that doubles as a hotel. 113 Dead Rising also includes a safe/save point in the form of a security control room that can only be accessed by West and his fellow survivors. There are various save points scattered throughout the mall, but the first one the player can access is in the control room. A similar system exists in BG&E, with save points available in random areas of Hillys, the first of which resides in Jade’s lighthouse. 114 Because Dead Rising takes place entirely in a mall, Frank West’s development is limited to solely how he overcomes the obstacles that occur in that environment during the set amount of time he resides there. The sheer scope of BG&E gives Jade a level of context and complexity that exceeds West in terms of potential for development. 115 Ness, p. 2. 69 116 Dead Rising (Capcom, 2006). 117 There is an eerie similarity in this scene between the pictures taken by the player of the woman just seconds from falling to her death and perhaps the most famous picture of the Vietnam War in which a prisoner is seen mere seconds before being executed. Eddie Adams, the Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist who took the photo, said of the picture, “I just followed the three of them as they walked towards us, making an occasional picture. When they were close – maybe five feet away – the soldiers stopped and backed away. I saw a man walk into my camera viewfinder from the left. He took a pistol out of his holster and raised it. I had no idea he would shoot. It was common to hold a pistol to the head of prisoners during questioning. So I prepared to make that picture - the threat, the interrogation. But it didn't happen. The man just pulled a pistol out of his holster, raised it to the VC's head and shot him in the temple. I made a picture at the same time.” Horst Faas, The Saigon Execution (2004). <http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0410/faas.html> Accessed February 2007. 118 There are five genre categories for the pictures West takes over the course of the game: brutality, drama, outtake, horror and erotica. The computer determines the category for each picture based on their subject matter. 119 The National Press Photographers Association website includes the following code of ethics: 1) Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects. 2) Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities. 3) Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one's own biases in the work. 4) Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see. 5) While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events. 6) Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects. 7) Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation. 8) Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage. 9) Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists. <http://nppa.org/professional_development/ business_practices/ ethics.html> Accessed February 2007. 120 Howard Good, Outcasts: The Image of Journalists in Contemporary Film (Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ, 1989), p. 34. “Little in the correspondents’ previous experience has prepared them for their sudden descent into the underworld. Their orthodox brand of journalism can’t cope with the rush of darkness. Stumbling through the valley of the shadow of death, they are tossed between their professional duty to report events objectively and their wakening impulse to intervene in disaster.” 70 121 Ibid. p. 30. 122 Ibid. p. 30. “Because the war correspondent was such a larger-than life figure in memoirs and novels, as well as in plays like Richard Harding Davis’ The Galloper (1906) and Bella and Samuel Spewack’s Clear All Wires (1932), it was probably inevitable that Hollywood would discover the professional crisis-chaser by the early thirties.” 123 Ibid. p. 30. 124 Ibid. p 32. 125 The first conversation West has when he arrives at the mall is with a man named Carlito. “You're the reporter aren’t you?...You came alone?” Carlito says. “Yeah! I'm freelance,” West replies. “You know... Go into the battlefield alone... No crew.” Dead Rising (2006). 126 In a game that encourages, and even requires, the player to dismember, behead, disembowel, shoot, stab, smash, run over, pummel and mow down tens of thousands of exquisitely rendered zombies that exude thousands of gallons of exquisitely rendered blood, it is difficult to believe that a character could be disturbed by photographs of the same ultra-violence. At one point, West meets up with another photographer named Kent, who invites West to participate in a photography challenge. Kent shows his pictures to West to demonstrate the desired subject matters. When he shows West his most violent photo, which depicts a zombie with his head exploding from a gunshot, West physically recoils and pushes the camera away with a disgusted, “Eh!” This is troubling because West shoots zombies and worse, on countless occasions without much more than a comical “yuck!” “Often news photographers shoot pictures of indescribable horror and barely escape death to bring back pictures to the public (films that show the photojournalist in action include Margaret Bourke-White, Salvador and Under Fire).” Saltzman, Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in American Film, p. 38. 127 “Nick Nolte plays photojournalist Russell Price. He traipses between war zones with little concern for the people or politics involved: ‘I don’t take sides; I take pictures.’” Matthew Ehrlich, Journalism in the Movies (University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 2004), p. 149. 128 “The undisputed journalist hero is the war correspondent, even if these journalists sometimes hide behind a patriotic and jingoistic script. During the 1940s, the war correspondent became a national folk hero. The war correspondent is the perfect movie hero, whose daily work involves patriotism, danger, violence, and drama. The war correspondents are where the action is, and a whole nation holds its breath while they risk their lives overseas to get the story back to the home front.” Saltzman, Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in American Film, p. 38. 71 129 Dead Rising (2006). 130 One of the recurring characters in the game, Otis, comments to West at one point, “You may have bitten off more than you can chew this time, Frank. I suppose it comes in the territory of your line of work though. I mean, if nobody's doing anything dangerous, you've got nothing to take pictures of and report on, right?” Dead Rising (2006). 131 “The journalist could lie, cheat, distort, bribe, betray, or violate any ethical code as long as the journalist exposed corruption, solved a murder, caught a thief, or saved an innocent. Most films about journalism end with the reporter or editor winning the battle, if not the war. Some journalists – the war correspondents and investigative reporters – may have acted more like soldiers or detectives, but they usually lived up to good journalism standards, only to be killed at the end of the film” Saltzman, Analyzing the Images, p. 29. 132 “One of the greatest challenges to any reporter striving to remain objective from their subjects is when their personal feelings of morality contradict their professional commitments to remain impartial. In the search for objectivity, journalists are asked to ignore their personal feelings. However, we should remember that Albert Henning, one of the fathers of American journalism ethics, argued that we have to do the ‘right action toward one’s fellows.’” Graham Fraser, Whose Side Are You On?: Representations of Journalism of Attachment and Detachment in the Movies (Napier University, 2006), p. 27. 133 Fraser, p. 13. 134 The initial game-play mode in the game is entitled 72-hour mode. The player must survive for 72 hours in addition to satisfying an extensive amount of requirements in order to unlock the true ending of the game. 135 Fellow photographer/psychopath Kent challenges West to photography contest wherein the player must take pictures of various scenes (a tender moment between other survivors, a gruesome death, a sexy woman, etc.) and earn a certain amount of prestige points to move on to the next challenge. But these challenges have nothing to do with the overarching zombie conspiracy. 136 West’s cases mainly involve keeping Brad, the Homeland Security agent, and Isabella, the sister of the mastermind behind the zombie outbreak, alive, fighting Carlito and, collecting bombs he has planted, and transporting various characters to and from specific areas around the mall. 137 “The journalists immediately were defined onscreen by brashness and cunning. They were creatures of the city familiar with its fast pace, crowds, and the opportunities to get ahead. They often acted more like detectives than journalists. They embodied the myth of 72 the self-reliant individual who pits nerves and resourcefulness against an unfair society.” Saltzman, Analyzing the Images, p. 28. 138 “The camera is used as a crime-fighting tool as often as it is for photojournalism. Dagger’s flash blinds a villain in one story, Rampart’s secret “cigarette lighter camera” sees action in three stories and in one a “camera-gun” foils a would-be assassin. The three main journalists make use of a gun in at least one of their stories. In the first, non-Comics Code Authority-approved issue, Michaels kills three antagonists and Rampart one. In subsequent issues only the police or other authorities are allowed to shoot the villains. Hamilton holds two suspects at bay with a gun, but never fires it. In the five-issue run of EXTRA! Michaels is more apt to punch someone than conduct an interview or take a note. He gets into physical altercations in eight of his ten episodes, knocking out twelve adversaries and getting knocked out twice. Rampart drops his camera to use his fists in all five of his episodes, knocking out nine opponents. Even the older Dagger gets to bash an antagonist.” Tom Brislin, EXTRA! The Comic Book Journalist Survives the Censors of 1955 (1995), p. 5. 139 One of film’s greatest critiques of journalism was delivered by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur in The Front Page. Hildy Johnson calls out his colleagues and their “noble” profession by declaring, “Journalists! Peeking through keyholes! Running after fire engines like a lot of coach dogs! Waking people up in the middle of the night to ask them what they think of Mussolini. Stealing pictures off old ladies of their daughters that get raped in Oak Park. A lot of lousy, daffy buttinskis, swelling around with holes in their pants, borrowing nickels from office boys! And for what? So a million hired girls and motormen's wives'll know what's going on.” Hecht and MacArthur, The Front Page (1931), p. 31. 140 Loren Ghiglione, The American Journalist: Fiction Versus Fact (American Antiquarian Society, 1991), p. 1. 141 There are actually several different endings to the game. If West fulfills all of the mission requirements, rescues every stranded survivor and is on the roof in time to be picked up by the helicopter, West gets stranded on the roof after the helicopter crashes. This is actually a cliffhanger ending as the story then picks up with West fighting to survive for an additional twenty-four hours in order to find an antidote after he is bitten by a zombie. After Overtime Mode is completed, the true ending of the game is unlocked, and West becomes the hero he was always meant to be. The true ending epilogue reads: “Frank West managed to escape the town of Willamette with information pertinent to the incident under his belt. The news caused a fervor throughout the world, leading to the U.S. government to admit at least partial culpability in the livestock research program. However, no connection to the Willamette incident was acknowledged and the events that occurred there were deemed the work of a fringed terrorist group. The people of [the] world, as could be expected from the modern culture of news saturation, soon let the Willamette incident fade from their minds. The authenticity of Carlito's chilling plan to 73 utilize the orphans as his pawns has yet to be confirmed or proven false. And yet he complained that his belly was not full.” The other endings are as follows: 1) “As planned, the explosion sent the parasitic organisms responsible for the zombie outbreak high into the stratosphere. The contamination quickly spread far beyond the quarantined area, turning the once isolated incident into a nationwide epidemic. Soon, the whole of the United States fell victim to a rash of zombie outbreaks.” 2) “A military Special Forces unit was dispatched to clean up the series of incidents in the locked down city of Willamette. However, the true story of what had occurred there remains unreported to this day.” 3) “The government issued an order for an absolute quarantine of the locked down city of Willamette, declaring the area a hotbed of an unspecified infectious disease. Ultimately, no one was able to report the true nature of what had occurred there.” 4) “Survivors indicated that their escape from the mall under siege was made possible through the assistance of a single journalist. However, his exploits after that point and his current whereabouts are unknown.” 5) “Although Frank West was able to escape with some headline-grabbing stories, the cause of the zombie outbreak remains shrouded in mystery. The days following the incident ushered in a series of similar zombie outbreaks in cities all across America. For a time, the city of Willamette would find its place in the spotlight, remembered as the first city to fall to the zombie onslaught.” Dead Rising, 2006. 142 Jade expresses her journalistic enthusiasm only to be warned by her uncle of the impending danger that Jade will have to face on the path to obtaining the story. 143 “The war has arrived at the gates of Hillys. This peaceful mining planet in System 4 is now completely encircled by the DomZ armada. General Keck, Supreme Commander of the Alpha forces, would like to take this opportunity to address a final message to the population. ‘Loyal Hillyians, the impending battle will be a difficult one. But thanks to the Alpha Sections…’” Beyond Good and Evil (2003). 144 Ibid. 145 According to the IRIS Network, the Alpha Sections are kidnapping Hillyian civilians, transporting them to the DomZ moon base and murdering them. 146 Beyond Good and Evil (2003). 147 On Ubisoft’s official BG&E website, Jade’s biography includes the following description: “After being contacted by the IRIS Network, she becomes the lead actionreporter for the rebel cause. She fights against prejudice and propaganda, in the name of her people and for the right to know the truth beyond the typical perceptions of good and evil. In the course of her adventure, she adopts the pen name ‘Shauni’ to sign her reports for IRIS.” <http://beyondgoodevil.com/us/main.php> Accessed February 2007. 74 148 The first of these moments is Jade’s discovery of the Alpha Sections’ civilian trafficking operation. After reaching an appropriate vantage point in an Alpha Sections factory, Jade snaps a picture of an X-ray machine monitor that displays the skeleton of a person, who is being transported inside one of the endless boxes moving along a lengthy conveyor belt. The second picture is of an Alpha Sections guard who is not wearing his helmet, therefore revealing his true identity. The third is of civilians being tortured and transported to Alpha Sections spaceships. The fourth is of Alpha Sections spaceships being loaded with civilians and flying to the moon. The final picture shows the leader of the Alpha Sections taking orders from the leader of the DomZ, and thereby cementing the conspiracy charge made by the IRIS Network. 149 “EXTRA! relied on the clean-image ‘journalist as crimebuster’ popular in other comics (Superman), radio (Big Town), and movies (The Big Tip Off, While the City Sleeps). The stories, in fact, rarely show the journalists practicing journalism. The journalist’s news assignment is a device to get the characters close to the action, where they are more likely to solve or stop a crime than report on it. In four episodes the journalists stumble on criminal activity while on vacation, and in none of these do they indicate they intend to file a story or pictures.” Brislin, p. 5. 150 Beyond Good and Evil (2003). 151 Ibid. 75 Conclusion Regardless of what form they appear in, news media in video games are portrayed as necessary and valuable components of society and culture. Even when the news media are horribly satirized as they are in the GTA franchise, the news still serves a vital role in the game’s narrative by providing players with information that directly reflects their role in the game world. At their best, for example, when they appear in any Tom Clancy game, in-game news media draw players into game narratives as no other device can. They convince players that a living, breathing game world exists beyond their immediate surroundings by suggesting that there are actual journalists covering and reporting on the events in which players are directly involved and that there is an audience at home watching the same broadcasts shown to players. However, if the news broadcasts lacked the same level of detail – from the writing to the design to the structure – that exists in most in-game news media, they would not be nearly as effective. Game developers have successfully identified and been able to reproduce the essence of the news media’s role in society and applied that to their narratives. Since interactivity is the defining characteristic that separates video games from any other form of popular entertainment, developers are able to craft more immersive experiences, due in large part to the use of well crafted and intelligently integrated in-game news media. 76 Similarly, the image of the journalist in Dead Rising and Beyond Good and Evil is ultimately a favorable one that propels the fictional hero journalist into the next generation while holding onto the conventions and images of the past. Frank West is a likable, talented and intelligent, if sometimes smug and ambitious journalist who is determined to risk his life to get the story. The creators of Dead Rising infuse West with similar characteristics found in classic movie journalists, 152 but the creators advance the image, making West as much of a physical threat to the corrupt and infected world around him as a journalistic one. West is physically capable of slaying thousands of undead to get the story. If given the same opportunity, every great journalist should want to do the same, both literally and figuratively. Jade possesses all the classic traits found in some of film’s most famous female journalists, such as Torchy Blane, Hildy Johnson and Babe Bennett. Jade also represents a new generation of individualistic women who exist in a world beyond the good and evil of, among many other things, gender grudges. Similar to her videogame colleague, Frank West, Jade’s journalistic ability complements her physical strength and willingness to sacrifice herself for the good of humankind. If their adventures are an indication of anything, it is that the role of a hero journalist is not an easy one to play. Only those with enough skill and power can overcome the difficulties that come with being pursuers and protectors of the truth. 77 Conclusion Endnote 152 “A tough, fast-talking cynic who prowls about unchecked in a corrupt world, continually on the lookout for trouble and a good story, he moves with speed and assurance – immediately on the scene of a news event to scoop the other papers,” p. 8. Saltzman goes on to say, “Because real newspapermen created the movie prototypes, it wasn’t surprising that the movie journalist was, above all, loyal to the work of journalism, to getting the story, to informing the people no matter what the cost, personal or professional,” Saltzman, Frank Capra, p. 10. 78 References Books/Articles/Websites Atari, Atari Classics (2008). <http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_classics/psp> Accessed February 2008. Barris, Alex, Stop the Presses: The Newspaperman in American Films (A.S. Barnes and Company, New York, 1976). Benedetti, Winda, Were Video Games to Blame for Massacre? (MSNBC.com, 2007). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/> Accessed November 2007. Bousiges, Alexis, Paperboy (Arcade-history.com, 2007). <http://www.arcade- history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=1935> Accessed November 2007. Bradley, Ed, Can a Video Game Lead To Murder? (CBSNews.com, 2005). <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml> Accessed November 2007. Brady Games, Dead Rising: Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games, 2007). Brislin, Tom, EXTRA! The Comic Book Journalist Survives the Censors of 1955 (1995). Capcom, Dead Rising Homepage (2006). <http://www.capcom.com/deadrising/> Accessed February 2007. Crecente, Brian, Dissecting Jack’s Lies (Kotaku.com, 2007). <http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/feature-dissecting-jacks-lies-252914.php> Accessed November 2007. Economist, The, Console Wars (2007). <http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8903398> Accessed February 2007. Edge, The Making of 3-D Monster Maze (Edge.com, 2006). < http://www.edge- online.co.uk/archives/2006/04/the_making_of_3_1.php> Accessed February 2008. Ehrlich, Matthew, Journalism in the Movies (University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 2004). Faas, Horst, The Saigon Execution (The Digital Journalist, 2004). <http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0410/faas.html> Accessed February 2007. 79 Foundas, Scott, Dawn of the Dead: Review (Variety.com, 2004). <http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117923411.html?categoryid=31&cs=1> Accessed February 2007. Fraser, Graham, Whose Side Are You On?: Representations of Journalism of Attachment and Detachment in the Movies (Napier University, 2006). Fuller, Linda K. and Paul Loukides, Beyond the Stars: Stock Characters in American Popular Film (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Ohio, 1990). Ghiglione, Loren, The American Journalist: Fiction Versus Fact (American Antiquarian Society, 1991). Goldstein, Hilary, GTA IV: Pushing the Limits (IGN.com, 2008). <http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/863/863435p5.html> Accessed March 2008. Good, Howard, Girl Reporter: Gender, Journalism, and the Movies (Scarecrow Press Inc., 1998); Outcasts: The Image of Journalists in Contemporary Film (Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ, 1989). Harris, Mary, His Girl Friday: Review (The Washington Post, February 10, 1940). Hecht, Ben and Charles MacArthur, The Front Page (1931). Kael, Pauline, Raising Kane: The Citizen Kane Book (Limelight Editions, New York, 1984). Kalning, Kristin, Does Game Violence Make Teens Aggressive? (MSNBC.com, 2006). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/> Accessed November 2007. King, Geoff and Tanya Krzywinska, eds. ScreenPlay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces (Wallflower Press, London, 2002). Kohler, Chris, From “Virginia Tech” to “Video Games” in 8 Hours (Wired.com, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/from_virginia_t.html> Accessed November 2007. Kohler, Chris, Jade Is Black?!: Racial Ambiguity in Games (Wired.com, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/02/jades_black_rac.html> Accessed February 2007. National Press Photographers Association (2006). <http://nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html> Accessed February 2007. 80 Ness, Richard, From Headline Hunter to Superman: A Journalism Filmography (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD, 1997). Nizza, Mike, Tying Columbine to Video Games (NYTimes.com, 2007). <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/> Accessed November 2007. O’Donnell, Ryan, Tim Schafer: Adventures in Character Design (Gamespy.com, 2004). <http://archive.gamespy.com/gdc2004/schafer/> Accessed February 2007. Onyett, Charles, Dead Rising: Review (IGN.com, 2006). <http://xbox.ign.com/articles/440/440089p3.html> Accessed February 2007. Parvaz, D., Video Game Research Yields Wide-Ranging Conclusions (SeattlePi.com, 1999). <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogameviolence/stdy14.shtml> Accessed November 2007. Radford, Benjamin, Reality Check on Video Game Violence (LiveScience.com, 2005). <http://www.livescience.com/technology/051204_video_violence.html> Accessed November 2007. Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstargames.com, 2008). <http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=recreation> Accessed March 2008. Saltzman, Joe, Frank Capra and the Image of the Journalist in American Film (Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California, 2002); Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: a Unique Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media (IJPC Journal, Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California). <http://ijpc.org/AEJMC%20Paper%20San%20Antonio%20Saltzman%202005.pd f> Accessed February 2007. Sidener, Jonathan, Microsoft Pins Xbox 360 Hopes on Halo 3 Sales (SignOnSanDiego.com, 2007). <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070925-9999-1n25halo.html> Accessed November 2007. Siljkovic, Armin, Dead Rising Breaks US Sales Record (2006). <http://digitalbattle.com/2006/08/30/dead-rising-breaks-us-sales-records/> Accessed February 2007. Takatsuki, Yo, Cost Headache for Game Developers (BBCNews.com, 2007). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7151961.stm> Accessed February 2007. 81 Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2005 Financial Results <http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=157255> Accessed November 2007. Taylor, Courson Maxwell, The Newspaper Movies: An Analysis of the Rise and Decline of the News Gatherer as a Hero in American Motion Pictures, 1900-1974 (University of Hawaii, 1976). Thorsen, Tor, NPD: 2007 Game Earnings Nearly $18 Billion, Halo 3 Sells 4.82 Million (Gamespot.com, 2008). <http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184847.html> Accessed January 2008. Turner, Benjamin, Beyond Good and Evil: Review (Gamespy.com, 2002). <http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/beyond-good-evil/6488p2.html> Accessed February 2007. Ubisoft, Beyond Good and Evil Homepage (2003). <http://beyondgoodevil.com/us/main.php> Accessed February 2007. Ward, Mark, Columbine Families Sue Computer Game Makers (BBCNews.com, 2001). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1295920.stm> Accessed November 2007. Xequted.com, Michael Ancel: Beyond Good and Evil (Xequted.com, 2004). <http://www.xequted.com/articles/120.html> Accessed February 2007. Films Ace in the Hole, 1951 (running time 111 minutes), black and white, Paramount Pictures. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Walter Newman, Lesser Samuels, and Billy Wilder. All the President’s Men, 1976 (running time 138 minutes), color, Warner Bros. Pictures. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on the novel All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Broadcast News, 1987 (running time 133 minutes), color, 20th Century Fox. Written and directed by James L. Brooks. Dawn of the Dead, 1978 (running time 126 minutes), color, Laurel Group. Written and directed by George Romero. The Front Page, 1931 (running time 101 minutes), black and white, The Caddo Company. Directed by Lewis Milestone. Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. 82 Guadalcanal Diary, 1943 (running time 93 minutes), black and white, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Lewis Seiler. Screenplay by Lamar Trotti and Jerry Cady. Based on the book by Richard Tregaskis. Here Comes the Groom, 1951 (running time 113 minutes), black and white, Paramount Pictures. Directed by Frank Capra. Script by Virginia Van Upp, Liam O’Brien, and Myles Connolly. Based on the story by Robert Riskin and Liam O’Brien. His Girl Friday, 1940 (running time 92 minutes), black and white, Columbia Pictures. Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Lederer. Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It Happened One Night, 1934 (running time 105 minutes), black and white, Columbia Pictures. Directed by Frank Capra. Screenplay by Robert Riskin. Based on the Cosmopolitan magazine short story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams. Salvador, 1986 (running time 123 minutes), color, Hemdale Film Corporation. Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone and Rick Boyle. Under Fire, 1983 (running time 128 minutes), color, Lions Gate Films. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Screenplay by Ron Shelton and Clayton Frohman. Video Games 3-D Monster Maze, 1981, J. K. Greye Software. Battlezone, 1980, Atari. Beyond Good and Evil, 2003, Ubisoft. Bioshock, 2007, 2K Games. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 2007, Activision. Condemned: Criminal Origins, 2006, Sega. The Darkness, 2007, 2K Games. Dead Rising, 2006, Capcom. Dungeons of Daggorath, 1982, Tandy Corporation. Full Throttle, 1995, LucasArts. Grand Theft Auto 3, 2001, Rockstar Games. 83 Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, 2002, Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 2004, Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto IV, 2008, Rockstar Games. Grim Fandango, 1998, LucasArts. Half-Life 2, 2004, Valve. Lost: Via Domus, 2008, Ubisoft. Max Payne, 2001, Gathering Developers. Paperboy, 1984, Atari. The Simpsons Game, 2007, EA. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, 2006, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, 2007, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, 2002, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, 2004, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, 2005, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent, 2006, Ubisoft. 84 Bibliography 3-D Monster Maze, 1981, J. K. Greye Software. Ace in the Hole, 1951 (running time 111 minutes), black and white, Paramount Pictures. Directed by Billy Wilder. Screenplay by Walter Newman, Lesser Samuels, and Billy Wilder. All the President’s Men, 1976 (running time 138 minutes), color, Warner Bros. Pictures. Directed by Alan J. Pakula. Screenplay by William Goldman. Based on the novel All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward. Atari, Atari Classics (2008). <http://www.atari.com/us/games/atari_classics/psp> Accessed February 2008. Barris, Alex, Stop the Presses: The Newspaperman in American Films (A.S. Barnes and Company, New York, 1976). Battlezone, 1980, Atari. Benedetti, Winda, Were Video Games to Blame for Massacre? (MSNBC.com, 2007). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18220228/> Accessed November 2007. Beyond Good and Evil, 2003, Ubisoft. Directed by Michael Ancel. Bioshock, 2007, 2K Games. Bousiges, Alexis, Paperboy (Arcade-history.com, 2007). <http://www.arcade- history.com/index.php?page=detail&id=1935> Accessed November 2007. Bradley, Ed, Can a Video Game Lead To Murder? (CBSNews.com, 2005). <http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/03/04/60minutes/main678261.shtml> Accessed November 2007. Brady Games, Dead Rising: Official Strategy Guide (Brady Games, 2007). Brislin, Tom, EXTRA! The Comic Book Journalist Survives the Censors of 1955 (1995). Broadcast News, 1987 (running time 133 minutes), color, 20th Century Fox. Written and directed by James L. Brooks. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, 2007, Activision. 85 Capcom, Dead Rising Homepage (2006). <http://www.capcom.com/deadrising/> Accessed February 2007. Condemned: Criminal Origins, 2006, Sega. Crecente, Brian, Dissecting Jack’s Lies (Kotaku.com, 2007). <http://kotaku.com/gaming/feature/feature-dissecting-jacks-lies-252914.php> Accessed November 2007. Darkness, The, 2007, 2K Games. Dawn of the Dead, 1978 (running time 126 minutes), color, Laurel Group. Written and directed by George Romero. Dead Rising, 2006, Capcom. Dungeons of Daggorath, 1982, Tandy Corporation. Economist, The, Console Wars (2007). <http://www.economist.com/business/displaystory.cfm?story_id=8903398> Accessed February 2007. Edge, The Making of 3-D Monster Maze (Edge.com, 2006). < http://www.edge- online.co.uk/archives/2006/04/the_making_of_3_1.php> Accessed February 2008. Ehrlich, Matthew, Journalism in the Movies (University of Illinois Press, Chicago, 2004). Faas, Horst, The Saigon Execution (The Digital Journalist, 2004). <http://digitaljournalist.org/issue0410/faas.html> Accessed February 2007. Foundas, Scott, Dawn of the Dead: Review (Variety.com, 2004). <http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117923411.html?categoryid=31&cs=1> Accessed February 2007. Fraser, Graham, Whose Side Are You On?: Representations of Journalism of Attachment and Detachment in the Movies (Napier University, 2006). Front Page, The, 1931 (running time 101 minutes), black and white, The Caddo Company. Directed by Lewis Milestone. Screenplay by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. Fuller, Linda K. and Paul Loukides, Beyond the Stars: Stock Characters in American Popular Film (Bowling Green State University Popular Press, Ohio, 1990). 86 Full Throttle, 1995, LucasArts. Ghiglione, Loren, The American Journalist: Fiction Versus Fact (American Antiquarian Society, 1991). Goldstein, Hilary, GTA IV: Pushing the Limits (IGN.com, 2008). <http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/863/863435p5.html> Accessed March 2008. Good, Howard, Girl Reporter: Gender, Journalism, and the Movies (Scarecrow Press Inc., 1998); Outcasts: The Image of Journalists in Contemporary Film (Scarecrow Press, Inc., Metuchen, NJ, 1989). Grand Theft Auto 3, 2001, Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, 2002, Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, 2004, Rockstar Games. Grand Theft Auto IV, 2008, Rockstar Games. Grim Fandango, 1998, LucasArts. Guadalcanal Diary, 1943 (running time 93 minutes), black and white, 20th Century Fox. Directed by Lewis Seiler. Screenplay by Lamar Trotti and Jerry Cady. Based on the book by Richard Tregaskis. Half-Life 2, 2004, Valve. Harris, Mary, His Girl Friday: Review (The Washington Post, February 10, 1940). Hecht, Ben and Charles MacArthur, The Front Page (1931). Here Comes the Groom, 1951 (running time 113 minutes), black and white, Paramount Pictures. Directed by Frank Capra. Script by Virginia Van Upp, Liam O’Brien, and Myles Connolly. Based on the story by Robert Riskin and Liam O’Brien. His Girl Friday, 1940 (running time 92 minutes), black and white, Columbia Pictures. Directed by Howard Hawks. Screenplay by Charles Lederer. Based on the play “The Front Page” by Ben Hecht and Charles MacArthur. It Happened One Night, 1934 (running time 105 minutes), black and white, Columbia Pictures. Directed by Frank Capra. Screenplay by Robert Riskin. Based on the Cosmopolitan magazine short story “Night Bus” by Samuel Hopkins Adams. 87 Kael, Pauline, Raising Kane: The Citizen Kane Book (Limelight Editions, New York, 1984). Kalning, Kristin, Does Game Violence Make Teens Aggressive? (MSNBC.com, 2006). <http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16099971/> Accessed November 2007. King, Geoff and Tanya Krzywinska, eds. ScreenPlay: Cinema/Videogames/Interfaces (Wallflower Press, London, 2002). Kohler, Chris, From “Virginia Tech” to “Video Games” in 8 Hours (Wired.com, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/04/from_virginia_t.html> Accessed November 2007. Kohler, Chris, Jade Is Black?!: Racial Ambiguity in Games (Wired.com, 2007). <http://blog.wired.com/games/2007/02/jades_black_rac.html> Accessed February 2007. Lost: Via Domus, 2008, Ubisoft. Max Payne, 2001, Gathering Developers. National Press Photographers Association (2006). <http://nppa.org/professional_development/business_practices/ethics.html> Accessed February 2007. Ness, Richard, From Headline Hunter to Superman: A Journalism Filmography (Scarecrow Press, Lanham, MD, 1997). Nizza, Mike, Tying Columbine to Video Games (NYTimes.com, 2007). <http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/07/05/tieing-columbine-to-video-games/> Accessed November 2007. O’Donnell, Ryan, Tim Schafer: Adventures in Character Design (Gamespy.com, 2004). <http://archive.gamespy.com/gdc2004/schafer/> Accessed February 2007. Onyett, Charles, Dead Rising: Review (IGN.com, 2006). <http://xbox.ign.com/articles/440/440089p3.html> Accessed February 2007. Paperboy, 1984, Atari. Parvaz, D., Video Game Research Yields Wide-Ranging Conclusions (SeattlePi.com, 1999). <http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/videogameviolence/stdy14.shtml> Accessed November 2007. 88 Radford, Benjamin, Reality Check on Video Game Violence (LiveScience.com, 2005). <http://www.livescience.com/technology/051204_video_violence.html> Accessed November 2007. Rockstar Games, Grand Theft Auto IV (Rockstargames.com, 2008). <http://www.rockstargames.com/IV/#?page=recreation> Accessed March 2008. Saltzman, Joe, Frank Capra and the Image of the Journalist in American Film (Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California, 2002); Analyzing the Images of the Journalist in Popular Culture: a Unique Method of Studying the Public’s Perception of Its Journalists and the News Media (IJPC Journal, Norman Lear Center, University of Southern California). <http://ijpc.org/AEJMC%20Paper%20San%20Antonio%20Saltzman%202005.pd f> Accessed February 2007. Salvador, 1986 (running time 123 minutes), color, Hemdale Film Corporation. Directed by Oliver Stone. Screenplay by Oliver Stone and Rick Boyle. Sidener, Jonathan, Microsoft Pins Xbox 360 Hopes on Halo 3 Sales (SignOnSanDiego.com, 2007). <http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/business/20070925-9999-1n25halo.html> Accessed November 2007. Siljkovic, Armin, Dead Rising Breaks US Sales Record (2006). <http://digitalbattle.com/2006/08/30/dead-rising-breaks-us-sales-records/> Accessed February 2007. Simpsons Game, The, 2007, EA. Takatsuki, Yo, Cost Headache for Game Developers (BBCNews.com, 2007). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7151961.stm> Accessed February 2007. Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. Reports First Quarter Fiscal 2005 Financial Results <http://ir.take2games.com/ReleaseDetail.cfm?ReleaseID=157255> Accessed November 2007. Taylor, Courson Maxwell, The Newspaper Movies: An Analysis of the Rise and Decline of the News Gatherer as a Hero in American Motion Pictures, 1900-1974 (University of Hawaii, 1976). Thorsen, Tor, NPD: 2007 Game Earnings Nearly $18 Billion, Halo 3 Sells 4.82 Million (Gamespot.com, 2008). <http://www.gamespot.com/news/6184847.html> Accessed January 2008. Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter, 2006, Ubisoft. 89 Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter 2, 2007, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, 2002, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow, 2004, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, 2005, Ubisoft. Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Double Agent, 2006, Ubisoft. Turner, Benjamin, Beyond Good and Evil: Review (Gamespy.com, 2002). <http://xbox.gamespy.com/xbox/beyond-good-evil/6488p2.html> Accessed February 2007. Ubisoft, Beyond Good and Evil Homepage (2003). <http://beyondgoodevil.com/us/main.php> Accessed February 2007. Under Fire, 1983 (running time 128 minutes), color, Lions Gate Films. Directed by Roger Spottiswoode. Screenplay by Ron Shelton and Clayton Frohman. Ward, Mark, Columbine Families Sue Computer Game Makers (BBCNews.com, 2001). <http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/1295920.stm> Accessed November 2007. Xequted.com, Michael Ancel: Beyond Good and Evil (Xequted.com, 2004). <http://www.xequted.com/articles/120.html> Accessed February 2007.

Abstract (if available)

Linked assets

University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses

Conceptually similar

PDF

Visualizations and mashups in online news production

PDF

Social media's role, utility, and future in video game public relations

PDF

Degas and his dance images as a form of New Media journalism

PDF

The YouTube phenomenon: YouTube stars eliminating stereotypes in new media

PDF

The lovesick journalist: the image of the female journalist in Danielle Steel’s novels

PDF

The fabled fourth estate: media freedom, democracy and human rights

PDF

Digital writers in an analog world: the image of the cyberjournalist in American film and television

PDF

N is for News: the image of the journalist on Sesame Street

PDF

Making business news in the digital age

PDF

The food truck phenomenon: A successful blend of PR and social media

PDF

What it means to be a girl: does the portrayal of women in film and the media shape who we want to be?

PDF

Emergent media technologies and the production of new urban spaces

PDF

The Cleaner: recreating censorship in video games

PDF

Now our lives are changing fast: music videos, everyday curation & the digital deluge

PDF

The influence of new media marketing public relations on the South Korean film industry -- in relation to the U.S. film industry

PDF

Building personal wellness communities: meaningful play in the everyday life of a network society

PDF

Running with newbies: understanding online communities through the eyes of second-generation gamers

PDF

A roofing revolution: refocusing on rooftops can reduce energy usage, clean our cities and create a more sustainable future

PDF

The role of capabilities in new alliance creation and performance: a study of the biotechnology industry

PDF

News from Germany between 1985 and 1995 - a casualty of the end of the Cold War

Asset Metadata

Creator Gaskill, Jake (author)

Core Title The fourth estate in the third dimension: the image of the news media and the photojournalist in video games

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Journalism (Print Journalism)

Publication Date 04/24/2008

Defense Date 04/01/2008

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag OAI-PMH Harvest,video game news media,video game photojournalist

Language English

Advisor Saltzman, Joseph (committee chair), Pryor, Lawrence (committee member), Thomas, Douglas (committee member)

Creator Email jpgaskill2@hotmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-m1172

Unique identifier UC1273761

Identifier etd-Gaskill-20080424 (filename),usctheses-m40 (legacy collection record id),usctheses-c127-61145 (legacy record id),usctheses-m1172 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-Gaskill-20080424.pdf

Dmrecord 61145

Document Type Thesis

Rights Gaskill, Jake

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Repository Name Libraries, University of Southern California

Repository Location Los Angeles, California

Repository Email cisadmin@lib.usc.edu