027Jess Kinghorn Oscar Taylor-Kent
S
ci-fi anthology series
Black Mirror
returned late last
December with
interactive film
Bandersnatch. Beyond
tracking your choices from
previous runs, it played it
safe with its choice-driven
narrative by offering solely
binary choices. That said,
there’s no denying it was a
big hit with people less
familiar with games, and
that’s not a bad thing.
This isn’t Netflix’s first
foray into interactive fiction- Minecraft: Story Mode
debuted last year, and that
was preceded by a number of
similar titles in 2017. On
Minecraft’s release, Netflix
representatives told
TechRadar the company
didn’t “have any plans to get
into gaming.” But with the
service’s further expansion
into interactive fiction, at
some point, one would think,
getting into games would be a
no-brainer (and an incredibly
lucrative one at that).
NOW BUFFERING
With PlayStation Now
allowing users to download or
stream select PS2, PS3, and
PS4 titles to their consoles,
Netflix would not be withoutcompetition. If you’ve got a
long memory, you’ll recall my
opinion way back in issue
#145 defending the spotty
usability of the (at the time)
streaming-only service. The
recent introduction of the
ability to download and play
titles offline as long as you
have an active subscription is
a move that speaks to the
potential I referenced all
those months ago.
I still think Sony’s missing
a trick by not expanding its
library into the PS1 era but I
understand that services like
Netflix and PlayStation Now
are at the mercy of licence
holders. Besides, games, in
particular, have the new
media problem of figuring out
how to preserve themselves,
with many master copies
already likely lost to the
sands of time. Streaming
services are not necessarily
the solution, but could help
older titles to find a modern
audience which may then care
about their preservation.
A true ‘Netflix for games’
could be closer than we think.
And while Netflix is resolute
in referring to Bandersnatch
as an interactive story rather
than a game, it’s clear from
playing it what Bandersnatch
thinks it is.T
he idea of making a
game, back when I
was a smaller version
of myself, was always
so enticing I’d jump at the
chance to try any CD that
promised to teach me the
mythicalways of game-
making. The problem was, I
was always rubbish at it.
These days, though, it
couldn’t be easier to put
together your own little game
projects. They might not be
fully-featured Triple-A games,
but there’s plenty of software
out there for making your
own basic text-based
adventures and games right
on your PlayStation, such as
the upcoming RPG Maker
MV and, of course, Media
Molecule’s amazing-looking
creative software Dreams.KEEP IT ALIVE
Even though it’s easier than
ever to make little gamey
things, I still feel like I’m a
bit rubbish, and I can never
decide what to make. When
looking at what to sculpt
to create assets for my own
game in Dreams, as intuitive
and easy-to-use as it may be,
my hands feel heavy and I
lock up. However, when games
are made in these simple-to-
understand programs, I can’thelp but be enchanted by
them. Whether it’s a game
that’s gone on to make waves
in the scene, or just a small
thing that’s a taster more than
anything, I love seeing what
other people have made.
On PS3, I barely touched
the main game in Media
Molecule’s quirky, yarny
LittleBigPlanet, nor even the
level maker. I almost
exclusively played creations
from the community, and it
was some of the most fun I
had on PS3, spending a lot of
time when I wasn’t playing
looking up cool creations to
check out later online.
Now with Dreams Media
Molecule is taking that
concept to the nth degree. You
can create and mould pretty
much anything from small-
scale to large-scale, and the
ability to swap assets with the
community enables you to get
your hands as dirty as you
like or keep ’em clean. Seeing
what’s possible, and how easy
it looks to use, I feel a tingling
in my fingers I’ve not quite
felt before. I know I’m going
to hoover up your lovely
creations, but I’m feeling like
it might be time to trying
wading in myself again. And
with you doing the same, I
couldn’t be in better company.COULDTHE‘NETFLIXFOR
GAMES’EVERYONEKEEPS
HOPINGFORACTUALLY
BE...NETFLIX?I’MTOOSELF-CONSCIOUS
TOCREATEINAVACUUM,SO
I’MLOOKINGTOYOUTOSHOW
MEHOWIT’SDONE.WRITER BIO
Jess Kinghorn is still hoping for the Shadow Hearts remake or rerelease of her
dreams. She concedes a Black Mirror episode featuring games that actually
has something to say about games is much more likely.WRITER BIO
Oscar Taylor-Kent once made a clock in a Design & Technology class based on
Edvard Munch’s The Scream. His lack of crafting skills ironically created
something even more terrifying than intended, haunting his halls to this day.With so much of our media streamed, it’s a
matter of time before games get onsideWhen tinkering and sharing creations is easier
than ever, we need to inspire each otherOPINION