“This isn’t one of those in-game pre-rendered movies, is it?” As Batman: Arkham Asylum played on the screen, a Game Night attendee demanded answers. I couldn’t fault him for questioning the graphics’ validity. Videogame companies notoriously employ smoke, mirrors, and feature film-quality 3D animation to mislead consumers into buying a product that can, in no way, live up to such a high visual precedent. In truth, it’s my fault I was caught off guard by the question. I should’ve expected the interrogator’s response. I often ask the same exact question (Thanks, Killzone 2!).

Batman doesn’t need in-game movies. The title immerses the player in the Bat-experience without them. The cinematic encounters aren’t observed, like in some “Final” titles, they’re played. Developer Rocksteady shows players this almost immediately during the lengthy introduction of escorting the Joker into the depths of Arkham.  As many of us know, this kind of medium interactivity isn’t new.

Cutting to a computer-generated or, heaven forbid, full motion video clip during an interactive game can segment the experience. In the world the player inhabits, he or she can move the protagonist around and interact with various objects and people. The boundaries are known, if only somewhat, here, and the objects are, in a way, tangible. But the world the clip inhabits might be entirely different, and potentially occupied by a similar, but bizarro-ish protagonist who possesses the capability to make decisions contradicting, or slightly off, from those made by the player. We assume they’re the same, because continuity and what games have taught us throughout years tell us, but we really don’t know. Think of it this way, you know the properties of an orange when holding it – the pleasant smell of the citrus flavors, the round and sometimes ovular shape, and the smooth but bumpy texture – but if all you know of an orange is what you’ve seen in a picture, then you can only assume. The power of a first-hand experience must never be underestimated.

Since this is a licensed title, it’s more vital than normal that the player feels like Batman (we all expect certain things from the Dark Knight). Through smart, and extremely well-designed gameplay mechanics, Rocksteady achieves this. Next, it’s up to the visuals to do their part (no sense in creating elaborate mechanics for Batsy Watsy if he looks and moves like a black tin can wearing a cape). Spoiler: The art department proved themselves as capable as the gameplay guys (and gals?). Arkham Asylum can hang with the biggest of visual baddies (not including the great emperor Crysis), in lighting, shadows, and raw pixel count. It’s really a beautiful game, and even better looking on the PC, provided you have the necessary setup.

As I said in my other Arkham Asylum-related article, the game includes added support for NVIDIA’s PhysX technology (“a proprietary realtime physics engine middleware software development kit). Since I possess a capable computer, I figured I’d bite, and see what kind of improvements this flaunted technology offered.

The difference is staggering. As the HardOCP folks say in their review of the title, “… there is absolutely a graphical effects payoff in Batman: Arkham Asylum.”

There’s more stuff occupying the floors, shelves, and hallways of the asylum and its outlying grounds when PhysX are cranked up to 11. Depending on where you are in the game, this can include more papers, tin cans, rubble, and fog. At normal and low physics settings, these materials are less present, or sometimes, not even included. Adding an additional dozen cans to an inconspicuous corner might not seem like a big deal, but it is. Think of it as the best way out of the environmental uncanny valley – the more realistic things the greater the possibility for the little things to make something seem unreal.

But there’s a cost to this, literally. PhysX support isn’t exactly cheap. As HardOCP notes:

“NVIDIA has told us a number of times that the best “bang for the buck” for a dedicated video card for PhysX is the GeForce 9800 GTX+, also known as G92, also known as 8800 GTS 512, also known as GTS 250.”

NVIDIA’s essentially saying “get two graphics cards” to run PhysX. While this isn’t necessary, the alternative, one really good card, is almost as expensive. If you want full support for these advanced features, and additional graphics capabilities such as anti-aliasing, get ready to spend around $300.

Before you console kids point and laugh at the price, remember how much you paid for your PS3 at launch. Yeah, that’s what I thought.

Oh, and even without these fancy doohickies, Arkham still looks better on the PC. And to make that happen, you don’t need a $300 card. Once again, check HardOCP’s excellent breakdown for more details.

If you have a capable computer, a PlayStation 3, and/or Xbox 360, there’s no reason to pick up either console version. Arkham on the PC looks better, can be played using a controller, can be modded, includes Xbox LIVE support, and is $10 cheaper. This is undoubtedly one of the best titles of the year. Play it the best way. Play it on the PC.

To anyone not residing within the videogame industry bubble, the interactivity comprising this medium might appear violent, immature, and singly playful. In truth, most of it is. The industry’s own roots lie buried deep under miles of competitive high score soil, and Hollywood schlock like Call of Duty and the perennially limp Guitar Hero, two of the biggest profit-leading franchises in the industry, annually resist change. They deliver basic, but polished, rudimentary genre entries.

Elsewhere, designers of all kinds strive to explore the medium’s infinite possibilities – melding, molding, and folding a multitude of genres and ideas in and on top of each other. Now we can play dancing-themed MMOs, fight for loot in World of Warcraft using the Plinko-esque Peggle, and massage our cerebral cortexes with a steady stream of “brain training” software. If you want it, you can probably get it in some form, as long as you’re willing to look.

But can we find videogames possessing the power to melt away our moods and offer peace? Up until the fall of 2005, I’d say “maybe,” without offering any examples. I had faith in industry developers and the possibility that they could also be yearning for something undiscovered. Little did I know Jenova Chen was ten steps ahead of me. That fall, as a student at the University of Southern California, the revolutionary designer, along with a team of students and faculty, released Cloud. Shortly after, my perception of what a videogame can offer changed forever.

As I played Cloud, the youthful innocence of just being returned to me. Stress? It was gone. Sadness? That too. I didn’t even feel happy; just at ease, and peaceful.

Care to see what I mean? Here are five other titles providing users with similar experiences.

Disclaimer:

Since these are videogames, the intended experience hinges, variably so, on an individual player’s skill and ability to adapt. If you start feeling lost or incapable, it’s important you fight off frustration and seek help and better instructions. Otherwise, don’t bother.

Flower

“Life in balance.”

The latest title from Jenova Chen’s studio, That Game Company, continues the airy aesthetics and sparse audio presented in Cloud, but significantly increases their quality and involvement in the narrative. As a flower petal, players utilize the wind in a journey to gather other petals from flowers. As each is plucked, a predefined note triggers and, sometimes, the aesthetics are variably altered.

In his review, Russ Fischer, of the Onion’s A.V. Club, said “Visually potent and occasionally beautiful, Flower fulfills its premise with enviable grace.” I’m inclined to agree.

Osmos

The food chain, microscopically represented, with Loscil, Gas/High Skies, Julien Neto, and Biosphere providing the soundtrack.

Osmos can be frustrating, if you’re not gentle with your tiny and gelatinous blue blob. Movement comes with a cost – part of your creature (or vessel?) returns to the environment. So just chill and you’ll be fine.

For added fun, put a hyperactive child in the driver’s seat.

Electroplankton

Few have heard of Toshio Iwai‘s interactive music and visual art masterpiece. Fewer have probably played it, thanks to Nintendo limiting sales to online retailers and the Nintendo World store.

It’s a shame. Electroplankton’s built on the premise of using visual art and design to make music. Move a plant leaf in one event, and the reflection sound of creatures bouncing off changes.  Alter the movement path of triangular amoeba-like fish and the effects change accordingly.

Click here for a video of DJ David Hollands creating a song live on stage using only the software.

Eufloria

Skip Eufloria, formerly known as Dyson, unless you consider yourself skilled at RTS titles. The beautiful interaction between the reserved light beige backdrop and colorful needle-thin spores isn’t powerful enough to combat any sort of frustrations you might derive from continually failing one or all of the title’s levels.

Eufloria’s not an “art” game in the same respect as the others in this list, but it’s an alternative way of tackling the RTS genre. If you’re good, you might find peace in the title. If not, I’m sorry.

the Graveyard

If creativity hatin’ Activision ever had an antithesis, it would be the Graveyard developer Tale of Tales. Calling the company’s titles “games” isn’t entirely accurate. They’re interactive, sure, but you don’t always “win” in the traditional sense.

In the Graveyard, players control an old woman who can barely walk. The “goal” is to move her to the center of the yard so she can sit down. After that, a song plays and the player can either leave her sitting or move her out of the yard. That’s it. The entire experience lasts under ten minutes and costs nothing. Pay $5 and the old gal might die at some point.

Some people call it the worst game ever. I call it a soothing art piece that maturely addresses the eventuality of death and the beauty of life.

Did I not include your favorite? Feel free to make a recommendation or two, or twenty, in the comments section below.

“‘Sup brogamers! The new Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 trailer aired last night during the Sunday night FOOOOOOTBALLLL(!!) match between the Steelers and the Chargers. It was AWESOME! There were explosions, and people running around in military stuff, and like Bible references, and OMG the music! It had power chords! ROCK ONNNN! Like, words that can accurately describe this monumental achievement in interactive entertainment don’t even exist. I’d make one or two up, but my mind’s still trying to process how AWESOME it was. Ya know what I mean, dawgs? Of course you do! You’ll be standing by bros like me outside of GameStops everywhere on November 10, waiting to slam down s 150 greenbacks for the totally mindblowing Prestige Edition! Recession? Psh. I need my CALL OF DOOOOOOOODIE!”

The paragraph above didn’t seep through the mouth or fingers of another oil-sucking American. I made it up, and snagged the pic from my favorite industry webcomic, VGCats. But modify a few words, swap out brogamers for some hip term tossed around by the white baseball cap-wearing collar-popped social “elite,” and it’s the same dribble splattered across dozens, if not hundreds, of message boards and forums. The beautifully awful gamer prose even rears its worn out mug in news items by game “journalists.” Check out the snippet below from Kombo.com:

“Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is big. Really big. So big that a new trailer for the game can’t just debut on the internet or on a videogame-oriented program like GameTrailers TV or XPlay. No, only one entity is big enough to hold the awesomeness of Modern Warfare 2 – the National Football League.”

Here’s another from Kotaku Australia:

“Interrupting a football game between the San Diego Chargers and Pittsburgh Steelers is enough reason to cause some sports fans to want to shoot someone, so slipping the new Modern Warfare 2 trailer in between plays is nothing short of marketing genius.”

And one more from Pwn or Die.com:

“This trailer is much different than others and may hit a bit close to home for Americans.  As you watch it, you can see an assuming American soldiers’ convoys hit by an RPG as they patrol through a town in the Middle East.  Then taking a page from Fallout 3, Washington DC has come under attack and landmarks are in ruins.  It is clear that the storyline in MW2 has just gotten “personal” and “real”.”

In regards to the last article… Fallout 3 doesn’t deserve any more credit for originating the idea of “DC in ruins” as Bad Boys 2 for inventing the buddy cop flick. And how do we even know Fallout inspired Modern Warfare 2? You better have a good answer, Pwn or Die writer NICKSMITH, because that’s what you’re saying.

Using the original Modern Warfare from Infinity Ward as a yardstick, Modern Warfare 2 doesn’t deserve the hype it’s receiving. Its predecessor limped through single-player on simple and dated shooter mechanics (enemies respawn until you advance past a designated checkpoint?!), a contrived story that repeatedly tried (and failed) to sell players on the “reality” of unbelievable situations, and a squadmate with a moustache containing more character than half the supporting cast combined. The game was loud and flashy, and it sold millions. And made millions in revenue, too. Calling it the Transformers 2 of the videogame industry isn’t necessarily wrong, just don’t expect to find giant robots in a title with the “Call of Duty” prefix…yet.

For most, the root of hype probably lies in Modern Warfare’s “revolutionary” multiplayer component. Borrowing leveling systems from RPGs, and forcing players to “earn” weapons and abilities, Infinity Ward found a design that incentivized extended play. Even players without skill refrained from feelings of discouragement. Experience points conquer all, apparently, including any realization that most titles didn’t force players to unlock this type of multiplayer content.

But the gameplay was basic. Unlike number one competitor Halo 3 and its famous guns, grenades, and melee gameplay pillars, Modern Warfare afforded players few options for escape or retaliation when sighted by an enemy. The “spray and pray” methodology, if you can call it that, held too much power. But casual gamers didn’t care. They felt strong, useful, and effective. They felt like capable military men.

And that’s okay, to a degree. I’m fine with videogames eliciting such a feeling. I just don’t like its frequency, and from so little variation. The situation’s disconcerting, at best.

Is this what the American gamer has become? A brogamer hailing contrived military shooters? Please, public, prove me wrong. Go ahead and make Flower the number one selling game this year.

The courageous young war widow’s four years of subterfuge in the service of king and country came to a violent end on June 10, 1944 when a German patrol ambushed both her and Jacques Dufour, a member of the French Reiststance. After running out of ammo, she was captured, tortured, and sent to Ravensbrück, a women-only concentration camp.

On February 5, 1945, the 23 year old Szabó was executed.

At the launch of Young Brave and Beautiful, a partial biography written by her daughter, the Lieutenant Governor of Jersey said “She’s an inspiration to those young people today doing the same work with the risk of the same dangers.”

For better or worse, her heroic story has remained untouched by the videogame industry–until now. On April 28, SouthPeak Interactive drops Velvet Assassin, a stealth-based title that puts the player in the role of Violette Summer, a beautiful but deadly British spy modeled after Szabó.

Germany-based Replay Studios is handling development duties, and so far, apparently remain unfettered by their country’s tendency to over-censor  videogame violence. Summer executes her nation’s enemies with alarming efficiency and in ways Fox news will almost undoubtedly call “grotesque.” Take a gander at the video walkthrough below for a few examples. Oh, and it’s okay to laugh at the very German-sounding accent from lead designer Sascha Jungnickel as he guides viewers through some of the basic gameplay elements. You’re an American, you’ve been conditioned to laugh at this kind of thing, right?!

Aubrey Norris, product manager at SouthPeak Games, took time out of her (presumably) busy schedule to answer a few of my questions pertaining to this semi-factually-based World War II title.

IPR: What do you say to someone who plays this game using a run and gun playstyle then complains that it’s too hard and/or doesn’t contain enough shooter elements?

Aubrey Norris: I’d say its definitely problematic to judge a stealth game as if it were a shooter. Yes, Velvet Assassin does have guns in it, but it’s a pretty hardcore stealth game. I think its just a matter of expectations being aligned with reality—if you’re playing a stealth game like a shooter and running and gunning everywhere, well, then yeah it’s going to be harder than if you played it like a stealth game.

IPR: Did you ever feel pressured by the gaming culture to turn Violette into a curvier femme fatale in skimpy duds?

AN: It’s a touchy situation, because if you make a character too curvy and scantily clad, some people will automatically try to label you as trying to sell the game based on sex (which is definitely not the case with Velvet Assassin.) On the other hand, if you don’t make women curvy and dress them provocatively, people will criticize the character for not being “hot” enough for their tastes. So, the pressure is always there from both sides. In our case, we understood that you can never please everybody and it is more important for us to stay true to the kind of character that Replay imagined rather than cater to one side or the other. Thus, Violette was designed to reflect a real woman from 1940s Europe. Her hair is designed in a popular style of the time, her proportions are reminiscent of a normal woman, and her costumes were all designed off of actual things that a field operative might have worn at the time.

IPR: Peter Chung’s a pretty high profile dude. How did you get him to create a graphic novel based on the title? Wheelbarrow’s full of cash?

AN: The story of Velvet Assassin fits in pretty well with the types of stories that Peter usually likes to tackle, with strong, kicka** female heroines. Luckily, because the story and concept of VA appealed to him, he agreed to work with us on bringing it to life!

IPR: Is this title built as a franchise with multiple sequels?

AN: It could be. Only time will tell!

IPR: Given your druthers, who’d play Violette in a film adaptation?

AN: For the voiceover work in Velvet Assassin, we cast a terrific actress who is bilingual in English and German—Melinda Cohen. She was perfect for this title. She was also the real-life model for Violette’s appearance in-game, so if anything,  I’m sure we would love to continue her legacy of bringing Violette to life.

IPR: Is SouthPeak actively looking to publish more content from overseas developers? I hear there’s some fantastic stuff coming out of Russia…

AN: I think the biggest thing for us is looking for good, unique content with a lot of potential to be fun and successful. Overseas or not, those things come first to us.

Speaking of overseas, when I asked Aubrey whether or not Velvet Assassin would see a German release, she replied “Absolutely.” Is this an indication of the country’s historically stringent censorship board loosening their creativity-stifling grip, or is the title being allowed to hit retail only after substantial changes are made? If it ends up being the former, a big ol’ smile will creep across my face. But if it’s the former, the German censorship board will find one of these lying on their steps.