Satirical games site UK Resistance has launched a typically daft campaign to bring sunshine, cute characters and upbeat J-pop back to videogames, thereby usurping the dour gangland settings of many contemporary western titles. "We want to stun enemies with BOUNCE ATTACKS, not shoot them in unrealistic and shoddy drive-bys!" proclaims the site. Later, there's a list of game design suggestions for developers and it's even possible to download a selection of hastily knocked together banners to show your support for the cause.
I agree with UK:R about the proliferation of gangster adventures (I've written something about them for the Technology section of the Guardian this thursday). But I'm not sure about the large scale re-adoption of Sega game design aesthetics from 1986-1996 (I'm not sure about it, but it does sound tempting). Is this obsession with urban squalor the price we have to pay for 'photo-realistic visuals', free-roaming environments and advanced physics?
Or is UK:R being a bit melodramatic? I mean, it's quite easy to ignore the pimps and hookers when we've got Okami and Shadow of Colossus?
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