35MM

35MM (Sergey Noskov, 2016)

Despite the promising name, 35MM offers a very limited simulation of photography. The game is reminiscent of Andrei Tarkovsky’s film adaptation Stalker, and it allows the player to take pictures through an analog camera, without the possibility to look through the viewfinder or to customize any function.

Some user has pointed out that taking pictures of certain subjects is connected to a reward system in the game, yet the precise role of the camera in terms of game mechanics appears unclear.

source: https://steamcommunity.com/app/466500/discussions/0/350540973996139533/

Russian in-game photography community

Konstantin Remizov has kindly offered a glimpse into the Russian community of in-game photographers that he is part of, existing in its current form since 2016: https://vk.com/ingameph

[Notable projects:]

– a collective take on using the famous “Hall of mirrors” glitch for aesthetic purposes: https://vk.com/wall-122046911_1795

– a recontextualization of Daido Moriyama’s work and methods in the gamespace of Driv3r: https://vk.com/wall-122046911_1508

– an essay on parrallels between in-game photography and the works of Thomas Ruff and Jeff Wall (yup, on russian): https://vk.com/wall-122046911_1548

From time to time we also post notable works from outside the community and translate important texts (or even write our own, as evidenced above). But mostly, of course, the content of the group is constituted by the good old-fashioned thermite art, to borrow Manny Farber’s term – a constant flow of surreal experiences and deliberate deconstructions.

Unlike other communities of in-game photography, this stands out as having a very artistic sense and strongly connected with photographic history and traditions.

Russia posts video game screenshot as ‘proof’ of US helping IS (BBC article)

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has posted what it called “irrefutable proof” of the US aiding so-called Islamic State – but one of the images was actually taken from a video game.
The ministry claimed the image showed an IS convoy leaving a Syrian town last week aided by US forces.
Instead, it came from the smartphone game AC-130 Gunship Simulator: Special Ops Squadron.
The ministry said an employee had mistakenly attached the photo.
The Conflict Intelligence Team fact-checking group said the other four provided were also errors, taken from a June 2016 video which showed the Iraqi Air Force attacking IS in Iraq.
The video game image seems to be taken from a promotional video on the game’s website and YouTube channel, closely cropped to omit the game controls and on-screen information.
In the corner of the image, however, a few letters of the developer’s disclaimer can still be seen: “Development footage. This is a work in progress. All content subject to change.”

source: “Russia posts video game screenshot as ‘proof’ of US helping IS”, BBC News – 14 November 2017, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41991012