HELLO LOGAN

Video game or cinema? The lines are blurred.

Metal Gear Solid injected the world of gaming with stealth, subtlety and cinematic production. It set a precedent for the first person shooter, Snake became a hero to thousands, and smokers around the world delighted in being well represented; the protagonist smoked you see - how else would he manoeuvre around the laser-web alarm systems he’d never otherwise see?

The recent release of the new iPod Nano reminded me of the release earlier in the year of Metal Gear Solid 4. Eh? What does an aging Solid Snake have to do with an oh-so-brightly coloured mp3 player? The answer lies on Venice Beach, LA, at the headquarters of pioneering animation studio Logan. They created the new ads for the Nano, but far more brilliant were the teasers created for MGS4, as well as the opening sequence for the game.

Not only were they beautifully produced, animated, casted and directed, but, while introducing viewers to the game’s particular context, they also parodied the world we live in. The 'Celebrity Moralist' spot, for instance (see below), critiques the hysterical celebrity afforded people today; the 'Praying Mantis', meanwhile, promotes a huge Starship Troopers-style ‘unmanned surveillance system’ that breaks down a public bridge and plunges a claw into the heart of a runaway renegade.

Visually, the best is surely the 'Werewolf' spot, where a seething and self-generating mesh of parts expands indefinitely as a sinister voiceover attempts to coax viewers into signing up to Werewolf Evolution, a military technology corporation.