Video Game Review
Halo: Reach- A Spartan will risehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bs2TPo7z0sM&feature=related
The YouTube video Halo: Reach- A Spartan Will Rise, depicts the fall of planet Reach. The planet is being destroyed by The Covenant; an alien race. Reach is all that stands between The Covenant and planet Earth. The destruction of Reach is made possible by The Covenant’s advance technology. The only remaining hope for Earth is a band of Spartan soldiers called the Nobel team. The team wears mechanically engineered suits that give them super strength, night vision, speed, agility, durability and the list goes on. The soldiers use powerful weapons, aircrafts, spacecrafts, and computer technology to aid them on their mission to save the planet. During this time of war humans rely heavily on their technology. Technology in this text causes death, destruction, hope, and victory. The relationship between humans and technology in this video is symbiotic. The mechanical suits cannot operate without their human counterparts and the humans do not stand a chance of defeating the aliens without the aid of technology. There is no fear of using technology in this text. There is a fear of being at the receiving end of The Covenant’s technology. The soldiers and the planets rely on technology for survival and hope. What is most interesting about this text is the introduction of a female character into the male dominated game Halo.
Kat Noble 2 is Halo’s first female Spartan. "Reach" recognizes that women are a larger part of the audience for video games -- 40 percent, according to the Entertainment Software Association -- and serving in combat nowadays. It gives players the option to play as a female soldier. It also has a female lead character, a soldier named Kat, who is one of the toughest members of the squad despite her prosthetic arm (Dudley 2). Kat’s mechanical arm makes her vulnerable, because it makes her an “other.” She is no longer pure flesh and bone. Pramond Nayer writes that the new body of the cyborg presents a fragmentation of the category of woman itself. The cyborg breaks down a barrier between self and Other. The cyborg represents a new route out of gender and identity determinism (116). Kat’s hair is cut short, her face is marred with scars, and she wears a light blue suit that makes her indistinguishable as a gender. Kat’s character also strays away from the typical female video game character stereotype. The article The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games writes that female characters were generally “hypersexualized”: their unrealistically large breasts and very small waists were emphasized through revealing clothing or partial nudity (Jansz and Martin 143). Kat’s character is undersexualized. Her gender is indistinguishable during combat. The ability to play as a female soldier allows women to identify with a combat genre game. Women and Games: technologies of the gendered self, writes that competition provides an arena in which power gamers are able to define and extend their definitions of self and gender. As Taylor has observed, one of the most salient pleasures for women gamers is the opportunity to engage in game combat, a space which permits them to challenge gender norms by exploring and testing their aggressive potentiality. Indeed, several of the power gamers interviewed take tremendous pleasure in challenging gender norms through their choice of genre ( Consaivo, Hopson, Lee, Royce, and Undrahbuyan 564).
Another interesting fact about Kat is that she is in charge of the team's technology . The narrator says “Kat, she is brilliant. There are no technical hurdles she can’t overcome.” In the video when one of the male team members picks up an electronic device Kat snatches it from him and says “I’ll take that! Not your domain.” She asserts her authority as the person who holds the power of technology. Kat’s character reconstructs the gender roles of women. Instead of choosing the domestic sphere she has taken over the technological sphere. She tries to bring technology into the domain of the woman. Since, game players are 60 percent male Kat’s character may be able to reassign gender roles in a subliminal manner. Overall Kat brings a new female character to the gaming world. She is a lead character and does not take a submissive position.
References
Brier, Dudley. "Halo Creators Pull out the Stops for Fourth Version for Microsoft's Xbox." The Seattle Times. Nw Source, 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
Jansz, Jeroen, and Raynel G. Martis. "The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games." Sex Roles 56.3-4 (2007): 141-48. Springer. Springer Science, 2 Feb. 2007. Web. 1 Sept. 2010.
Nayar, Pramod K. An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Royse, P., J. Lee, B. Undrahbuyan, M. Hopson, and M. Consalvo. "Women and Games: Technologies of the Gendered Self." New Media & Society 9.4 (2007): 555-76. Print.
The YouTube video Halo: Reach- A Spartan Will Rise, depicts the fall of planet Reach. The planet is being destroyed by The Covenant; an alien race. Reach is all that stands between The Covenant and planet Earth. The destruction of Reach is made possible by The Covenant’s advance technology. The only remaining hope for Earth is a band of Spartan soldiers called the Nobel team. The team wears mechanically engineered suits that give them super strength, night vision, speed, agility, durability and the list goes on. The soldiers use powerful weapons, aircrafts, spacecrafts, and computer technology to aid them on their mission to save the planet. During this time of war humans rely heavily on their technology. Technology in this text causes death, destruction, hope, and victory. The relationship between humans and technology in this video is symbiotic. The mechanical suits cannot operate without their human counterparts and the humans do not stand a chance of defeating the aliens without the aid of technology. There is no fear of using technology in this text. There is a fear of being at the receiving end of The Covenant’s technology. The soldiers and the planets rely on technology for survival and hope. What is most interesting about this text is the introduction of a female character into the male dominated game Halo.
Kat Noble 2 is Halo’s first female Spartan. "Reach" recognizes that women are a larger part of the audience for video games -- 40 percent, according to the Entertainment Software Association -- and serving in combat nowadays. It gives players the option to play as a female soldier. It also has a female lead character, a soldier named Kat, who is one of the toughest members of the squad despite her prosthetic arm (Dudley 2). Kat’s mechanical arm makes her vulnerable, because it makes her an “other.” She is no longer pure flesh and bone. Pramond Nayer writes that the new body of the cyborg presents a fragmentation of the category of woman itself. The cyborg breaks down a barrier between self and Other. The cyborg represents a new route out of gender and identity determinism (116). Kat’s hair is cut short, her face is marred with scars, and she wears a light blue suit that makes her indistinguishable as a gender. Kat’s character also strays away from the typical female video game character stereotype. The article The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games writes that female characters were generally “hypersexualized”: their unrealistically large breasts and very small waists were emphasized through revealing clothing or partial nudity (Jansz and Martin 143). Kat’s character is undersexualized. Her gender is indistinguishable during combat. The ability to play as a female soldier allows women to identify with a combat genre game. Women and Games: technologies of the gendered self, writes that competition provides an arena in which power gamers are able to define and extend their definitions of self and gender. As Taylor has observed, one of the most salient pleasures for women gamers is the opportunity to engage in game combat, a space which permits them to challenge gender norms by exploring and testing their aggressive potentiality. Indeed, several of the power gamers interviewed take tremendous pleasure in challenging gender norms through their choice of genre ( Consaivo, Hopson, Lee, Royce, and Undrahbuyan 564).
Another interesting fact about Kat is that she is in charge of the team's technology . The narrator says “Kat, she is brilliant. There are no technical hurdles she can’t overcome.” In the video when one of the male team members picks up an electronic device Kat snatches it from him and says “I’ll take that! Not your domain.” She asserts her authority as the person who holds the power of technology. Kat’s character reconstructs the gender roles of women. Instead of choosing the domestic sphere she has taken over the technological sphere. She tries to bring technology into the domain of the woman. Since, game players are 60 percent male Kat’s character may be able to reassign gender roles in a subliminal manner. Overall Kat brings a new female character to the gaming world. She is a lead character and does not take a submissive position.
References
Brier, Dudley. "Halo Creators Pull out the Stops for Fourth Version for Microsoft's Xbox." The Seattle Times. Nw Source, 4 Aug. 2010. Web. 19 Sept. 2010.
Jansz, Jeroen, and Raynel G. Martis. "The Lara Phenomenon: Powerful Female Characters in Video Games." Sex Roles 56.3-4 (2007): 141-48. Springer. Springer Science, 2 Feb. 2007. Web. 1 Sept. 2010.
Nayar, Pramod K. An Introduction to New Media and Cybercultures. Chichester, West Sussex, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2010. Print.
Royse, P., J. Lee, B. Undrahbuyan, M. Hopson, and M. Consalvo. "Women and Games: Technologies of the Gendered Self." New Media & Society 9.4 (2007): 555-76. Print.
