Do we need to be drawn into our games, or can we just play and enjoy? That's the question pondered by commenter RAMeyer19 in today's installment of Speak-Up on Kotaku.

Why in video games is "immersion" so often quoted as an important factor that a game has or lacks? Can I not love playing Pac-Man without needing to feel that I am Pac-Man?

Honestly, Half-Life 2, often cited as the peak of immersion in modern games, more often than not had me testing boundaries as opposed to feeling immersed. How come I can smash some things with a crow bar and they'll break, but not others? Why can't I shoot supporting character Alyx in the face but I can shoot and kill a mutated monster? If Valve was trying to make the player feel a part of the Half-Life universe through their rigidly first-person design how come I am so constantly questioning the rules and limits of what I can do, only to be constantly reminded that I am indeed, only playing as Gordon Freeman who can single-handedly save humanity from an alien race, but can't kill one measly old scientist with an assault rifle?

I think this is a big question that's important to address in modern game culture. Francois Laramée said, "All forms of entertainment strive to create suspension of disbelief, a state in which the player's mind forgets that it is being subjected to entertainment and instead accepts what it perceives as reality." According to this standard, one would assume that a piece of entertainment would do everything in its power to reach this goal. But look at how effective games like Metal Gear Solid are when they break the fourth wall.

Maybe it's because interesting meta-communicative moments, like those in Metal Gear, are more important to meaningful gameplay than "immersion" in the classical narrative sense. To me at least, applying Laramée's theory of immersion to games implies a false sense of simplicity on the medium as a whole.

I think we should look beyond "immersion," the term that's become such an industry buzz-word, and try to focus on the more subtle complexities that make a game truly interesting.

And yeah, sorry for the long post, but if you made it this far I'd love to hear what you think.

About Speak-Up on Kotaku: Our readers have a lot to say, and sometimes what they have to say has nothing to do with the stories we run. That's why we have that little box on the front page of Kotaku. You know, the one with "Got something to say?" written in it? That's the place to post anecdotes, photos, game tips and hints, and anything you want to share with Kotaku at large. Just make sure to include #speakup in your comment so we can find it. Every weekday we'll pull one of the best #speakup posts we can find and highlight it here.

The head-chomping, zombie-making alien of Half-Life looks good in a powdered wig when painted by Gearbox Software artist and Team Fortress 2 hat maker Shaylyn "ChemicalAlia" Hamm, as seen at deviantArt.

Dean Fraser hits it out of the park once again. As seen on Springfield Punx.

Who doesn't love sending Half-Life 2's headcrab zombies to the great beyond with a few whacks of Gordon Freeman's trusty crowbar? And who wouldn't love to have said bloody, shambling headcrab zombie in statue form?

Thankfully, the next great Gaming Heads creation based on Valve's Half-Life games is coming soon. The figure makers is opening up pre-orders for the 1/4 scale headcrab zombie next Monday, October 4. No price yet. But like Gaming Heads' previous releases, the Tank from Left 4 Dead and the Heavy from Team Fortress 2, we expect the headcrab zombie to cost a pretty penny.

1/4 Scale Headcrab Zombie [Gaming Heads]

The hilarious, universally acclaimed "Meet the Team" shorts for Team Fortress 2 are more than fan service or game promotion. Valve founder Gabe Newell says they're experiments in movie-making, because the studio would prefer to do a Half-Life movie itself.

Speaking to PC Gamer, Newell says Hollywood bombarded Valve with story pitches for a Half-Life movie, not long after the first game shipped in 1998. "Their stories were just so bad. I mean, brutally, the worst," Newell said. "Not understanding what made the game a good game, or what made the property an interesting thing for people to be a fan of."

Newell said the team reached a consensus to not sign a movie deal, because the only way it would be don right was if it made the film itself. "And I was like, ‘Make it ourselves? Well that's impossible,'" Newell said. "But the Team Fortress 2 thing, the Meet The Team shorts, is us trying to explore that."

It's a leap from animated, comedic shorts to a feature-length science-fiction drama, so at this rate, it's more likely that Half-Life: The Movie doesn't get made. But good on Newell and company for staying committed to seeing something done right, if it's done at all.

"As a [World of Warcraft] player, I would much rather that the WoW team made the movie, right?" Newell said. "I like Sam Raimi, I've been a fan ever since Evil Dead came out, but I would rather see Blizzard making the movie. We think that customers are like, ‘OK, we're kind of sick and tired of the way you guys are slicing and dicing the experience of being a fan of Harry Potter, or Half-Life, or The Incredibles, and you need to fix it.' And the people that fix it will be rewarded, and the people that don't will be on the rubbish heap of history, or whatever the phrase is."

Valve Want To Make The Half-Life Movie Themselves [PC Gamer]

You get The Jacknife Chronicles, a piece of machinima that uses Source Engine editor Garry's Mod and makes a gripping little short film out of it.

Set (loosely) in the Half-Life universe and running for an impressive 12 minutes, The Jacknife Chronicles blends assets from Half-Life and Mirror's Edge into something entirely different. And very impressive.

[via PC Gamer]

Self-professed "virtual photographer" Robert Overweg has a portfolio up on his site, showcasing a series of shots he calls "The End of the Virtual World".

They don't show the last minutes of a dying game world; instead, Overweg journeys to the end of a game's maps, shooting the desolate, lonely places that exist on the periphery of your favourite video games.

Four titles are features: Left 4 Dead 2, Half-Life 2, Counter-Strike and Modern Warfare 2. You won't find any men running around. Or aliens. Or tanks. Or ammo, or crates, or health packs. There's just...a road. A road to nowhere.

The End Of The Virtual World [via Gizmodo]

Hey, it's another Disney attraction recreated in Half-Life 2! Last time it was the Tower of Terror, this time it's the sadly now-closed Adventurer's Club at Disney World.

Video games as a virtual archive for shuttered theme park rides (or, in this case, nightclubs). It's not the most expected role for the medium, but I have to say, it's definitely one of the most charming. Especially since the interior is so painstakingly depicted. There's love and history at work here, and those two together can do wonderful things.

[via Boing Boing]

The infamous leak of Half-Life 2's beta in 2003 was a story with an international scope and wide-ranging consequences, some just now coming to light. Such as this box of Russian-made Half-Life 2bubblegum.

The guy unboxing this won it in an eBay auction for $2.25. It's obviously a knockoff - in 2003 and 2004, other than finishing and publishing the game, Valve's top overseas priority was probably catching the hacker who leaked it, not licensing Russian confectioners to make Gordon Freeman into Bazooka Joe - which is the second product this stuff infringes on. (Note the tiny wax-paper comics.)

Right there at the end - is that the snap of a six-year-old ingot of bubblegum, or the shattering of a molar?

Thanks to Jim B. for sending this in.

Wolf-Shadow77 has been doing these little Half-Life cartoons for a few years now, but only recently have they really hit their stride, showing Gordon Freeman's universe in a way we're not exactly accustomed to seeing it.

The short animations use actual in-game sound clips, but then throw up visuals that upon first viewing, don't exactly match. By the time you're done, though, you couldn't imagine Half-Life looking any other way.

Wolf-Shadow77 [DeviantART]
[Axel787 @ YouTube, thanks Morris!]