Monday 15 February 2016

New beginning, new beshminning!


The game title A New Beginning indicates that there have been a series of beginnings. Or at the very least, one other beginning before this one.

What should the words 'The Final Cut' mean in a game title? I reckon something along these lines:

'This is the last and most definitive version of this game! The producers who got in the way of our vision and the cack-handed editors who failed to assemble the product correctly the first time we solid it to you have all been swept aside. At last we can present to you what we would have presented to you in the first place if it hadn't been for all these jerks and idiots. Also note that this is the last time we will be presenting this product to you, and we're doing it really definitively.'

But what do the words 'The Final Cut' mean in the pretty dumb-sounding title of the game -

A New Beginning: Final Cut ?

They mean: 'Hey. The game's on Steam now, and we got it working on Macs. Plus we added achievements and more localisation. PS The game is exactly the same as before.'

It's hardly Ridley Scott being denied final cut on Blade Runner then getting a chance to edit it how he wanted about ten years later.

In conclusion, all roads are imperfect, but some are dumb, and brainless use of terms like 'The Final Cut' and 'Director's Cut' in the process of glomming a few extra words onto the end of a game's title in order to flog it anew is part of the dumb road.

2 comments:

  1. Ah, I remember that game. I liked it, for the most part, but God the voice acting. It's not dreadful in that way that really bad voice actors can be, but sometimes there's a serious disconnection between what's being said, the tension in the scene, and the delivery. They sounded way better in my head when I read the lines myself, and that's a bad sign.

    Apart from that, I'd recommend this game. I mean, there's others I'd recommend first - I just had a whale of a time with Broken Age and Broken Sword 5 - but this one is worth your time.

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  2. I'd buy it if I hadn't already failed to play the games I bought in GOG's xmas sale!

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