Commentary
I’m a sucker for commentary and making-of stuff. I’m a real nerd about it. I buy the special edition DVDs when they are available. The stuff I’ve enjoyed the most thus far are the extensive behind the scenes / making-of content included on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and the documentary included on The Abyss special edition discs. They show loads of stuff about how effects were pulled off, how scenes were conceived, and how some plot choices were made late in the game.
Well, the newer forms of entertainment media are catching up, slowly but surely. I just finished playing through Half-Life 2, HL2: Episode 1, and HL2: Episode 2, as well as Portal, all games from Valve Software. I cannot get enough of the commentary mode. You basically play the game as usual, but can trigger little audio files to play and point out or explain things that you’d not stop and consider otherwise. It rocks. Not only do we get episodic content available from an online vendor for immediate download, we get special extras like DVDs. Awesome. Just another reason that I’m convinced that games will become an accredited artistic and entertainment medium, rather than remain classified under “timewasters” or “hobbies.” Really cool stuff. And for the record, I can’t wait until HL2: Episode 3 comes out. Aperture Science and Black Mesa…portals and ghost ships…it’s almost like a geekified dystopian Indiana Jones… What could possibly be cooler than that?