BA3: Contextual Studies

The Horror Genre in Video Games

As my part of my groups contextual studies assignment I am looking at the genre horror within video games and doing a study of their western and eastern influences. There are 2 people in my group, as I said previously, focusing on the main influences of Japan and America on culture (films and books). So myself and Sophie are going to take these principles and apply them to modern and older video games which come under the genre of horror. 

We are mainly looking for cross over's and direct influences from western/eastern cultures and how they have moulded the horror genre we see today in games.  We are yet to decide the  main areas of interest, that is something I plan to talk to my group about tomorrow. I plan to talk to Stacey and Olive, see what they have found out about Japanese/American culture within their studies of film, media, books and literature and then see how I can apply that to my study of horror genre video games. 

Having said this, I have decided on my main 2 areas of focus. The 2 games I have decided to study are Resident Evil1 and Dead Space 1.

Resident Evil 1

My next plan of action was to simply post up the games trailers but I found something really interesting with Resident Evil’s trailers. The key thing to remember with Resident Evil is that it is actually a Japanese game. In Japan Resident Evil is known as “Biohazard” but due to a few key elements such as other games named biohazard and a band current to the time of release in America, the game could not be named Biohazard. This is the excerpt from an article on Kotaku explaining the reason:  

“In late 1994, Capcom Entertainment in the US was starting to ramp up marketing plans for the game that would eventually become known as Resident Evil in the US. Capcom Japan had let us know that the name of the game was going to be ‘Biohazard' in Japan, but I pointed out to the person who ran marketing at the time that it would be next to impossible for Capcom to register the name in the US.

As an example, I pointed out that a crappy DOS-based game had just come out in the US called ‘Biohazard' (not to mention the New York hardcore band of the same name) and that we'd never be able to secure the mark. As a result, the head of marketing held a company-wide contest to come up with a new name for the game.”

Anyway, moving onto my point. I was looking for simple tv trailers of Resident Evil 1 to demonstrate the game I was going to be studying, however I then came across some interesting advertisements. I am going to start with the Japanese trailer for the game. 

Japanese TV Trailer

 

• Keeps fixed camera angles even to just advertise the game.

•The music remains eerie and dark to suit the game, not making it out to sound like something it isn't. 

• I’m not going to pretend I have a clue what the guy is saying in the trailer, however, his voice sounds deep/dark, its not shouting or yelling, perhaps to add to the suspense theme of the game?

• The music is slow and not erratic, again, adding to the horror/suspense of the game trailer. It’s giving an accurate representation of the game.

The next trailer is the extended/directors cut trailer. This one has the English voice acting which means it was meant for release in America. You can instantly tell the trailer just feels…different.

American/English Voice Acting TV Trailer, Released in America 

  

• Whilst the music is still creepy, its very in your face and has a fast tempo. It suggests action to the viewer as opposed to survival horror.

• The clips from the game are all focused on action and epic, fast paced areas of the game. Anyone who has played resident evil knows that these do happen, but they aren't all the time.

This is the last of the 3 trailers I have to show. This one was releases only on American TV's as advertisement for Resident Evil 1 (& 2). The difference in focus on the game is hilarious, the game is what any gamer would describe as true survival horror, and yet somehow in this trailer, they have managed to completely distort that image of the game into something completely action orientated!

Purely American TV Trailer 

  

• The game has been completely re branded with a funny Christmas joke like opening scene.

• The scenes have been made to feel even more action-esque with sound enhancements on the explosions.

• The guitar music doesn’t really suggest survival horror, it just screams action. This is very American in style and feel in comparison to the Japanese trailers. 

Dead Space 1

Dead space is one of the true horror games left on the current gen console market worth mentioning. The first game was incredibly scary in my opinion and was truly horrific. Unlike the Resident Evil franchise, Dead Space is purely American. The point I will hope to continue to make is that despite being an American made game, there sure are a lot of references to other cultures and medias, especially from Japan.