Chris Avellone, Alpha Protocol's creative director, on story & writing: "It's important. I don't think it's as important as systems design or level design, but the story is an important piece that gives systems and level a reason to exist, and helps to compel the player to move forward. I love narrative and character design, but I prefer to create story and character mechanics that are game systems rather than divorced from the systems or levels - when the story is a mechanic, in terms of reactivity, perks, mission changes, and open/closing of hubs and endgame choices, I think that's the purpose of a game story. In terms of improving stories for games, I feel that narrative designers should study writing conventions outside of games, both in scriptwriting and in other media, such as novels and graphic novels. In addition, a story should not be divorced from the actual gameplay, it should reinforce it, give it purpose, and when possible, work in tandem with a game's systems and themes. When a story paralyzes a player (watch this cut scene, stop and read this book) or has to work to force itself onto the player with exposition, I think you start travelling down the dark road of cutting off immersion and turning a game into a passive experience, rather than an active one. Also, and to cue off a lecture from Ken Levine, I think much of a story or character can be told in a game level or in the environment itself, without a bunch of text or books littered around the game world."

It's funny how these "experts" refer to literature only on a Dostoyevsky and Shakespeare level and then complain how games can't live up to that. That whole article just makes me angry, for a lot of reason. I'm a student of literature and currently working on my MA thesis. I might not be a professor, but I claim to know my fair share about story telling theories and narrative concepts. And I'm bitterly suprised how so many people still limit games to gameplay.

Both Bioshock and GTA IV are excellent example of subtle but powerful storytelling. It's no great achieve to shove a story right into the player's face, i.e. read walls of texts as in Lost Oddysse. Then you might as well just read a book. Games that actually manage to combine great gameplay and storytelling are artistically on a much higher level. Also, I find it quite shocking that this feature (narrative elements in video games) is presented in way like it's THE novelity! What have these people been doing the last couple of years?

That's a rather pointless comparison, as the pc will naturally offer the better graphics. But as always, the question remains at which price. Even if you get a cheap video card, it is still likely it will cost you $200. Now that's more expensive than an xbox arcade. And at this point you don't even have things covered like processor, memory, etc. It would be interesting to compare a pc that costs about as much as a PS3 or Xbox to the consoles.

No flaming, but that's why I never got into pc gaming: constantly looking for upgrades, comparing prices, comparing performances, etc. when I can just buy any console and be content.