"The Grammar of Fun"

The most interesting piece Tom Bissell's article, "The Grammar of Fun," is the discussion of layers of meaning within "Gears of War:" a recent video game masterpiece. In the article, Cliff Bleszinski -- the creator of Gears of War -- hints to the author that apart from the "testosterone-filled chainsaw-fest" that pretty much encapsulates a Gear of War gamer experience, there is something else not-so-subtly hidden beneath the surface: a "'going home' narrative."

This got me thinking about all the levels of plot and narrative that can lie in something as virtual, and other-worldly as a video game, as well as the ways in which virtual reality becomes just another place where we project how we think the world should be. Bleszinski, also known as CliffyB, describes how he misses the house where he grew up in Boston, and reveals that Gears of War carries a parallel story, where the main character Marcus Fenix also experiences a sort of "homecoming" (but with "some of the most harried and ridiculously frantic fighting in the game" thrown in too)."When you start to peel back the layers of the Gears world," says CliffyB, "there's a lot of sadness there."

I wonder if it might be happier without the chainsaws?