Inklings of Addiction...

[John Bailey]

Pynchon seems reasonably well-versed in gaming history - enough to
suggest he was at least a hands-on parent when it came to his kids'
gaming habits. More than just running a wikipedia search on what games
were popular in the years leading up to 2001.

Portal 2 (not Portal) offered one of the most engaging experiences
I've had in any artform. No violence, incredibly gorgeous to look at,
but the narrative that creeps up organically around all the play is
deeply affecting if you pay attention to it. Lost of references to the
myths of Electra, Prometheus etc and the dialogue is laugh-out-loud
funny throughout. One of only two games I've played that are worthy of
the boring "are games art?" debate (the other being Journey which had
me weeping copiously).

On Sat, Sep 21, 2013 at 1:00 PM, Michael Bailey
<michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> wrote:
> I'm somewhat ashamed that i never have done much gaming atall ... I was
> pretty good at one pinball game, long ago won a sub sandwich for high score
> on Gulfstream, but, well - that game was an easy one.
>
> Guys in my workgroup have been devoted to zelda, wow &c also quake but it
> seems like a lot of pretend killing ... Hard to get very revved about
> that...being a militant pacifist & all!!!
>
> Ddr seems like fun, played it a little, then bought the sims a long time ago
> but never got hooked
>
> Portal is supposed to be cool but am i going to be striving to blow somebody
> away?? Live & let live...
>
> In bleeding edge i just read a reference to games that were "too beautiful"
> to be marketable - any idea which games pynchon may have meant?
>
> I remember being humiliated by myst, playing at a friend's house and getting
> stuck at some limbo full of reproachful phantasms...that was a very pretty
> game!