Cinematic games : the aesthetic influence of cinema on video games

During its first decade, Game Studies debate mainly revolved around the juxtaposition between two perspectives: the one of ludology and the one of narratology, each positing a primary quality of video games against the other. The study of the relationship between cinema and video games got somehow caught in the crossfire between these two fields. In this work, I investigate the extent to which representation in video games is connected to cinema and its representational codes. A number of authors before challenged this assumption, theorising models that only partially connect the cinematic form to video games. Such investigations have always started from the ludologically educated assumption that video games are different from cinema and, therefore, for the premises of this comparison to be considered “vitiated”, only tangentially useful due to the irreconcilably different nature of the two media. The adjective “cinematic” is a concept constantly evoked in cultural discourses concerning video games. Magazines, reviewers, critics, but also designers, artists, users and commentators (even scholars) often summon the idea of cinematic games in the attempt of describing some peculiar features that share affinities with films and suggesting that video games possess the aura of the big screen. Cinematic games are born at the crossroads between interactive movies and video games, for which the cinematic expression is retained by means of audiovisual representation while keeping the action in the hands of the player. Due to the vast scale of the subject, my work focuses on relatively recent developments in game design which have yet to be fully investigated, and seeks to extend existing attempts to apply the tools of film theory to Game Studies. A secondary value of this work is an annotation on the disengagement of moving image scholars with video games, and it partly serves as an invocation for this to change

Tiotropium versus Salmeterol for the Prevention of Exacerbations of COPD

BACKGROUND Treatment guidelines recommend the use of inhaled long-acting bronchodilators to alleviate symptoms and reduce the risk of exacerbations in patients with moderate-tovery-severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) but do not specify whether a long-acting anticholinergic drug or a β2-agonist is the preferred agent. We investigated whether the anticholinergic drug tiotropium is superior to the β2-agonist salmeterol in preventing exacerbations of COPD. METHODS In a 1-year, randomized, double-blind, double-dummy, parallel-group trial, we compared the effect of treatment with 18 μg of tiotropium once daily with that of 50 μg of salmeterol twice daily on the incidence of moderate or severe exacerbations in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD and a history of exacerbations in the preceding year. RESULTS A total of 7376 patients were randomly assigned to and treated with tiotropium (3707 patients) or salmeterol (3669 patients). Tiotropium, as compared with salmeterol, increased the time to the first exacerbation (187 days vs. 145 days), with a 17% reduction in risk (hazard ratio, 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.77 to 0.90; P<0.001). Tiotropium also increased the time to the first severe exacerbation (hazard ratio, 0.72; 95% CI, 0.61 to 0.85; P<0.001), reduced the annual number of moderate or severe exacerbations (0.64 vs. 0.72; rate ratio, 0.89; 95% CI, 0.83 to 0.96; P=0.002), and reduced the annual number of severe exacerbations (0.09 vs. 0.13; rate ratio, 0.73; 95% CI, 0.66 to 0.82; P<0.001). Overall, the incidence of serious adverse events and of adverse events leading to the discontinuation of treatment was similar in the two study groups. There were 64 deaths (1.7%) in the tiotropium group and 78 (2.1%) in the salmeterol group. CONCLUSIONS These results show that, in patients with moderate-to-very-severe COPD, tiotropium is more effective than salmeterol in preventing exacerbations. (Funded by Boehringer Ingelheim and Pfizer; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00563381.

Elisa Mandelli e Valentina Re (a cura di), Fate il Vostro Gioco, Terra Ferma, 2011

“Fate il vostro gioco”: un’esortazione – ma, soprattutto, una possibilità – che ci pare possa descrivere molto bene lo scenario mediale in cui questo volume cerca di collocare il rapporto tra cinema e videogame. Realizzato in occasione della giornata di studi I Play Videogame organizzata dall’Università Ca’ Foscari di Venezia nel novembre del 2010, questo libro si propone di investigare le relazioni tra cinema e videogiochi all’interno del panorama mediatico contemporaneo

Video game Mise-En-Scene remediation of cinematic codes in video games

This paper aims to discuss two primary points. Firstly, I argue that due to the complex development of Game Studies as a field and to the constant technological innovation, it is important to elaborate a reflection on the current state of video game aesthetics and its relationship with other audiovisual media. Secondly, the relevance of film-related analytical and theoretical tool is explored through the analysis of video game mise-en-scene and its tools of representation. I want to highlight the similar aesthetic strategies and, at the same time, to underline the shifts occurred in terms of functions. Finally, I describe two relevant aesthetic tendencies in the current video game generation: the scripted staging and the expressive lighting