Week 8 Response - Content and Container Within Gaming

In thinking about this week’s blogging question, I decided to look at other digital forms where content and container has been blurred, particularly within gaming platforms. One that stands out to me, are the technical glitches that users have found from The Sims game. While hilarious, The Sims is quite frequently plagued with graphical glitches that are caused by a number of reasons such as new updates, downloads, the cheats feature or especially faulty coding (The Sims Wiki, 2016). 

Fig.1. from BuzzFeed

Issues with The Sims have continued to arise, even with the seemingly increased sophistication to its features. The most recent version, The Sims 4 – which was released in 2014 – has been reviewed as the worst of its series, with its technical problems and missing content features (Hardcore Gamer, 2015). With this being said, it begs the notion that with advanced complex technology comes more technical issues and complications. Being old school I like to stick to the earlier versions of the game, and having heard the issues that players have had with The Sims 4, let’s just say I won’t be upgrading anytime soon.

I'm not a frequent gamer, so I don't know if other gaming platforms have constant or worsening glitches. But in discussions with friends, they tend to go back to the earlier models of their favourite games; most significantly, Nintendo's Pokémon Game Boy series of the 90's as it gives nostalgic memories, but also it's graphically and aesthetically familiar than the newer and recent versions. Hence, in relation to class discussions on eBooks, it's not surprising there is continuing divide and going back and forth between print and digital forms. 

Fig.2. from Pokemon.com.

Until next time!

- Raquel

Sources & Images:

Guillaume, J. (2014, May 7). 29 Times The Sims Went Horribly, Hilariously Wrong. BuzzFeed. Retrieved from http://www.buzzfeed.com/jennaguillaume/times-the-sims-went-horribly-wrong-with-hilarious-results#.usjmbwgRb

Pokemon. (2016). Pokémon Red Version and Pokémon Blue Version. Retrieved from http://www.pokemon.com/us/pokemon-video-games/pokemon-red-version-and-pokemon-blue-version/

Steighner, M. (2015, December 14). Review: The Sims 4 Get Together. Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved from http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2015/12/14/review-the-sims-4-get-together/182391/

The Sims Wiki. (2016). Glitches. Retrieved from http://sims.wikia.com/wiki/Glitches