No Language for Video Games?

Or maybe it’s a new language for video games.

Whatever the case may be, Wired has a feature about how there is no accurate language for video games to aptly tell a story. This is, obviously, up for debate, because it really depends on the video game you’re talking about.

“Media use linear narratives. Games can’t be linear: they’re interactive,” Annalee Newitz writes in her article. “Nevertheless video games keep trying to be like movies.”

Interactive they may be, yes, but come on, we’ve all played side-scrollers. How interactive is it, really? You’re not so much changing the storyline as you are the place you jump.

Some of the readers on the site give the argument some credit when talking about Halo and the limited story elements in the gameplay, and this is true. Some games just do not have a progressive storyline when you’re blowing people away.

But really, other games have a tendency to read more like a book. Final Fantasy anyone?