Speaking Of Which...

The Avatar trailer is really visually stunning. I'm not really feeling much beyond that, though. To the extent that effects enhance a great narrative, I'm all in. To the extent that it becomes a show in and of itself, I'm all out.

Story-telling is actually one of my long-standing beefs with MMOs. WoW did a good job of pushing story-telling forward, but it's hard to go as deep as some of the great single player games. I'd like to see the next big MMO go a little further in terms of story-telling. There has to be a way to do something more than kill xx number of orcs, a better way to hide the architecture. Should they not tell you about XP and levels? Should the process of "leveling up" be a little more mystical? I don't know...

Anyway, here's the trailer. I don't think I can take another "good white man save the natives" story. When do the natives save themselves? When the natives start investing in cameras.

This article available online at:

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2009/11/speaking-of-which/29505/