| Sky Render said: That's quite a spin, Squilliam. Though you pointed one of the key flaws of the games industry as it stands now: it's basically the same games getting remade with new titles and new characters. They kindly refer to this as "genres" and "sequels", instead of outright admitting that they're basically repackaging what's already been made and slapping a proverbial new coat of paint on it (and maybe a few new bells and whistles to make it stand out, if they're feeling ambitious). Perhaps you're fine with that. Maybe you even like playing the same few games over and over again with slight changes and improvements to the formula, or with occasional new obstacles to make the gameplay more challenging over past entries. That means you fit the target market of the industry at large. But that's not what appeals to the mainstream. And the mainstream is quite a lot larger than the core demographic of any industry. The main problem being that they're not being served with the same level of dedication as the core demographic is, because what the mainstream wants is undefined for the most part. It varies so much that trying to "appeal to the mainstream" is madness. Until now. As with 23 years ago, Nintendo has opted to give a sizable chunk of the mainstream a desire to opt into gaming where there was none before. The answer to the question "how do you appeal to a group that shares no common interests?" was answered with "create a common interest". And this common interest is at odds with the very rigid definition of what interests the core demographic. But the plan was never to simply leave it at that. Nintendo is doing something called "upstreaming": they are encouraging the mainstream gamers brought into gaming by the new common interest point of the Wii and DS to buy more traditional games. But they're also "downstreaming": they're encouraging long-time gamers to play games which combine the two styles. And imagine that, the most noteworthy games on Wii and DS both are the ones which combine the old with the new... Gaming is changing. The market is being reshaped. We've seen it reach the advanced stages with the DS. We're just witnessing the beginnings of it on the Wii. This is the part where it gets good, so sit back, watch, and enjoy... |
So you would argue that civilization IV is not a worthy game because it's the fourth sequal?
Mainstream gamers play the same games over and over again. Solitare - Tetris - Pokemon are the exact same games. People watch the same cliche movies again and again, If you've seen one Action movie you've seen most of them. If you've seen one Hugh Grant or Ben Stiller... People kick the same ball in the same goal with the same people year after year. The question is "what is fun". So long as people find FPS games to be fun then they will keep buying them. It doesn't matter if you've played Halo 1-3, so long as you have fun doing so.
Different games on different systems obviously have different objectives. Graphics and sound technology aids in suspension of disbelief and immersion. There are people who can't even consider purchasing a console until the games look real/feel real. Games like Doom are great arcade shooters but they don't compare to games like Half-life 2 in immersion into their world. I find the Wiimote kills immersion in the game, I don't notice myself pressing the buttons on my controllers, all I notice is the reaction from the game world. Perhaps that comes from not playing my Wii enough, but with anything that becomes automatic your mind is focussed on other things.
For your last point, I don't see solitaire playing girls upstreaming to playing Civilization IV. It fits their needs and gaming fits into their lifestyle. For someone who only wants Wiiplay Wiisports and Wiifit, why would they want to play Mario? Why even then would most Wii owners even bother looking for games beyond the Nintendo offerings? If most suck then they probably won't bother. How can a good third party shine in a sea of crap? That was Ataris downfall and it is a danger to the success of the Wii.
Tease.
