Philips Magnavox Videogames and the Entertainment Revolution Trigger Happy - Manual (Page 394)

Trigger Happy
396
processing chip in Sony’s PlayStation2 console is
called an “Emotion Engine.” This is more than just a
good marketing coinage; it also implies a more
thoughtful approach—not toward something like an
interactive novel, of course, but certainly toward
videogame software that will take more chances to
make the player stop and think. Videogames’ loss of
innocence can only be a good thing, aesthetically, as
developers increasingly try to create new ways of
seeing and playing in their imaginary worlds.
Prometheus gave man the tools of creation. In an
alternative version of the Prometheus myth, Zeus takes
his revenge on the god by persuading Hephaestus to
fashion a woman, Pandora, who lets fly the world’s
evils out of a jar. From then on, men decide to turn their
gifts against each other, by waging war. But one thing
is left in Pandora’s receptacle: hope.
Whether our digital fire is turned to destructive or
creative purposes is still up to us. Let’s say to
videogame designers: don’t bore us, don’t alienate us;
feed our sense of wonder. Videogames etch
memorable, high-speed imagery onto millions of
retinas in the industrialized nations. They are rewiring
our minds. This is both an opportunity and a danger. If