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NEWS | SAN DIEGO

Video game characters gain place in American society

By A.T. Nelson
Monday, July 26, 2010
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As the distinction between these two industries continues to fade, it was certainly not surprising to see video games increase their presence at last week's international Comic-Con.

It's often been said that America lacks a mythology of its own.

The rulers of antiquity had the stories of Hercules or the poems of Homer. The British have their tales of King Arthur and Robin Hood.

However, for the people of the new world, the time honored tales of heroes and villains has fallen to the imagination of talented storytellers such as Bob Kane or Jerry Siegel, whose characters have become just as much a part of our society as Gilgamesh was to the Mesopotamians.

In truth, it would be hard to imagine a time when names like Batman or Superman were not ingrained into our collective memory.

If you were to ask a child from Los Angeles to name Batman's car, it is almost a certainty that they would give you the exact same answer as a middle-aged farmer from the Midwest.

The only real difference in the modern age is in how people access these characters.

This is where video games like "DC Universe Online" or "Arkham Asylum" come in.

Titles like these allow players to finally live out the dreams of fighting as, or alongside, their favorite iconic characters.

They also present a different way for writers to introduce new storylines and adventures to their fans.

In this way, video game characters have also been able to forge their own mythos.

While certainly not as recognizable as Wonder Woman, characters such as Mario and Link have certainly gained their place in our society.

Other titles that began life as a video game have even been turned into comics, like BioWare's "Mass Effect."

This trend is likely to continue, especially as technology gives storytellers new ways to pass along their tales.


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