An interesting game that I have played as of late is called Hotel Dusk: Room 215. It is a game made for the Nintendo DS. The interesting thing about the game is that it is referred to as an “interactive novel.” It actually says that on the game case.

I had originally picked this game up because it pays homage to the older point and click PC games. The type of games where you can click on an item and see if it does anything or you can hold on to it for later. In a way it is in the same vein as Myst where you point and click at items in hopes to make some use of it.

However, back to the interesting part, it attempts to combine the genres of a book and a videogame. As most people know, the Nintendo DS has two screens. For this particular game you hold the DS sideways, as if it was a book (As shown in the picture to the right). You play the game while you hold it like a book. As you point and click your way further with the stylus, lot’s of dialogue unfolds the story, almost making it like a choose your own adventure book.

All of these aspects that I have mentioned makes the game a rather interesting blend of what attempts to be a book and videogame combined. However, due to the combination, neither one truly feels like on or the other. By combining the two I would say that it seems to create its own genre. Neither one particularly stands out more than the other, that’s why I couldn’t even completely call it a videogame on its own (or maybe it could be classified as a new genre within a videogame). I think this is another interesting example of a genre transcending its medium in a different way.