I really find amusing when they attact Malstrom in content but NOT in context. He wites in this distintic way with a log post to try to make other understand the context but there are people that can't really see it. Attack his writting, his content and not the context is what many might say "lack of reading comprehension" (if you feel offended then you know it's true in your case, deal with it).
Malstrom is what you can say an "average writer", as such, he commits many of the sins of article writting, if not all of them. I really don't care for that for the internet is full of bad writters that work as game journalists, game analysts, and game reviewers. In form and content I agree with you in the many flaws in his articles, abd because of these flaws, people tend to missunderstand him a lot. Quoting him directly wi end up shooting yourself in the foot in most cases, for there may not be enough arguements to prove it.
His writings can seem too apocalyptic, and 90% of the counter arguements are sales of games like GTAVI, MGS4, Halo 3, etc... He's not addressing that these games are a failure in the context of bad game, bad sells, but they fail in inviting new players to join. If you don't invite former gamers of new gamers, you will fail when other companies do it and overcome you in sales in the future. Metal Gear Solid 4 suffers from this kind of failure, because it's more natural for a fan of the series that played the previous installments that a new gamer that when he starts to see the story going deep I'm pretty sure three words will come to his mind (W-T-F) and the background is too long for most of the new gamers. In this aspect MGS4 fails....On Nintendo's side, there are two games that suffered as well: Fire Emblem and Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, both are complicated for a new gamer (yes, even with Wii controls). TP didn't sell well in Japan....This is why Miyamoto called TP the last Zelda of the kind we know about, being Phantom Houglass the first sign of change... Nintendo is taking action with their own franchises, in order to invite new players and get more sales.
About the flags, again he's not saying that the games that have these are bad, he's saying that these can be a sign of failure in sales to a new audience.
The tutorial is the first flaw, if you keep it to a minimum and use it at the first part of the game step by step without making the player feel overwhelmed, then it's ok (Diablo 3 will keep it to a minimum because their aim is "you use a mouse, you can play diablo"). But if you need an introductory level of a tutorial area, only the hardore will endure this while the new and former gamer will see it as too complicated and won't get the game.
Cinematics are the next flaw to cater new gamers. New and fomer gamers want to play the game more than watching the cutscenes. If it has too much will be like they paid for a movie instead of a game and would want their money back. If the cutcenes are short and preferably interactive and give the player more freedom in game (gameplay time>>>>>> cutscene time) then more gamers would want to join in.
Text: Same as cinematics, new players like to play the game more than reading texts
Fun from minute 1: I do not need to explain this.
Malstrom shows the evidence in our faces that most titles are supported by the hardcore ONLY. The problem is that the hardcore of today can become the former gamer tomorrow (jobs, family, etc.), if they don't invite the new gamers, the numbers will decrease and the franchise dies.
