Do You Prefer Over-the-Top Video Games?

Video games are as diverse as any form of entertainment, and when Guillermo del Toro suggested the medium was a form of art, he was referring to its capacity for innovation, abstraction, and even absurdity. The industry has come a long way to achieve the realism you see in games like "Modern Warfare" and "Grand Theft Auto" today, but some of the greatest games make their name by throwing realism out the door to focus on pure, unmitigated fun.

G4's Adam Rosenberg interviewed the producers of his favorite game of 2011, "Saint's Row: The Third," to find out what they did this time around to improve on what many were calling a "Grand Theft Auto clone." "Saints Row," like "GTA," is an open-world urban gang shooter; unlike "GTA," "Saints Row" has ninjas, hadoukens, and weapons made out of things we probably shouldn't get into.

"Saints Row: The Third" producer Greg Donovan told G4, "We actually had a lot of conversations in SR2 on whether or not the Ronin [ninjas] should have their swords on their backs. Is that too realistic, will people care about that? And of course they didn't, and so it's like, 'Ok, great. This is the type of game we love to make, our players love this, so let's just blow everything out.' So I guess from the start, [we decided] everything needs to be over the top."