I've listened to one of Zizek's lectures where he mentions that the video game industry by now far surpasses Hollywood in profit making. I've drawn my conclusions and started watching TL;DP (too long didn't play – copyright:me) cinematic videos on youtube. These vids basically strip down the often 30 hours+ gameplay of video games to their (essential) cinematic parts.
A common structure of "AA" games should be noted here: the player is often motivated to do repetitive and mediocre sessions of "grinding" for the sole purpose of being awarded by finally being permitted to see a 1 minute long cinematic clip, wherein finally the real story line is somewhat set in motion, just so he could start grinding again, until the chore is finally done in the end of the game. I think this is important to note not just because it is a recurring way of structuring these games, but because this method structures the enjoyment of the players: you basically do a menial and repetitive task ("gameplay proper") in order to "achieve" the truly enjoyable, cinematic parts. Interestingly, the "reward" becomes sweet (acceptable, rather) because it is achieved by doing uninteresting shit. (Note the parallel with the wageslave's life.)
So after watching the "stripped down" versions of the Mass Effect and Halo universes (hint: I've consciously chosen sci-fi games, because sci-fi has always been the genre for self-reflecting on the present) I've noticed an obvious parallel between the two, namely, the (spoiler) trope of advanced spacefaring humanity & aliens finding a mysterious pre-built gigantic artificial space-station, whose origins are unknown, but are (immediately) presumed to be beneficial/exploitable to said exploring civilizations.
What a shock, it turns out that these absolutely bootiful and optimal environments for life are the constructs of a previous plot by another intelligence. So, in Mass Effect, we get the evil super-machines constructing a literal honeypot for biological species, making their extermination easy, and in Halo we get a long gone civilization's (nonsensical) plan to contain a parasitical threat by exterminating every living being.
Pic related from the movie Elysium is of course of a different kind (we learn that it was constructed for the convenience of the ruling class). In these two vidyas the Utopian environment is constructed with malicious intent, unknown to the naive explorers, which leads me to my conclusion: both games are reactionary portrayals of an "evil artificial Utopia" to which gullible people become captivated, and when they "try it out" it turns out that this Utopia tries to eradicate them.
Le bourgeois portrayal of communism much?
