Keeping it unreal

Fila C has posted the full series of the branded PlayStation 2 TV commercials directed by David Lynch, one of the most daring publicity initiatives of recent videogame history - well within the same line as Cunningham's ads for the original PlayStation. Seeing it in perspective does make one wonder about the exact circumstances in which one of the most influential film directors of our time got involved in a project of this nature: financial reasons have undoubtedly played a vital role, notwithstanding.

Altogether, these short clips provide a very definite notion of the mature audience that the Japanese company so wanted to captivate, in a rather refreshing deviation from the recurrent puerile advertising campaigns proposed by other companies in the same branch. As works of surreal marketing that originate from the depths of Lynch’s twisted sense of imagination, their viewing (or reviewing) is by all means indispensable.

Into the Night with Jason Rohrer and Chris Crawford

What an unlikely pair: Franco-German TV arts and culture channel Arte selected two of the most important videogame personalities of different generations and brought them together for their latest edition of the feature Durch die Nacht mit (Into the Night with). Jason Rohrer, the young game designer who is best known for his work in games such as PASSAGE and BETWEEN meets Chris Crawford, one of the world’s foremost authorities on the subject of video game design.

The documentary was shot in San Francisco, the city that hosted this year’s edition of the Game Developer’s Conference – the starting point for this spontaneous conversation. As the night slowly replaces the day, Rohrer and Crawford wander about the city, engaging in a rather deep albeit contagious dialogue about the root of video games and the process of their creation. While I do not endorse these creator’s visions in full, Rohrer and Crawford do raise some pertinent questions. Based on my first impression, this is by far the best television documentary on the subject of videogames ever made: profound and thought-provoking in its casual and unassuming way.

Apart from the small except embedded in this post, I also took the liberty to upload the full documentary in two parts that can be obtained here and here.