Kwaad said:
rendo - it will effect the market, when every publisher see's they can make 40x more profit, making crap games, they will stop making blockbusters... There will be a new generation of bluckbusters... that would be more like minibusters. I wouldnt be so upset about this if they were 20$ budget games. Nintendo might get rich quick, but they will destroy the market of games that I love... Then agian, they might actually hurt themselves, because if they do that, Wii might end up for nintendo games, and PS3/360 get all the 3rd party games. (wii would get the 3rd party party games too though) |
Kwaad, sorry to inform you but Nintendo IS the videogame industry. Atari WAS the videogame industry once and threw away the opportunity. Nintendo picked up the ball and it has been theirs ever since. Sony gave a nice flash but it was more 3rd parties who made Sony than the other way around. Sony has some hit 1st party games but the impact they've had on gamemaking is not as significant. They're just hits. Nintendo and Sega's 1st party changed how other companies made their games. It's true that the Playstations expanded the market to a more global realm without which Wii could not go where it's going now, I'll give them that. But like Rol Stoppable said the more you make a console like a computer the more you make consoles irrelevant. The distinction must be there or consoles would lose their purpose. Check 1983-1985 and really check it this time.
Though they call it all videogaming now, there were three distinct schools of electronic gaming.
Computer, Arcade, and Video...you could also throw in Portable since its an offshoot of video but with no actual TV screen to emphasize the V in videogaming.
The Arcades are more or less dead today in most places. Computer was the first school and Video is the second. The more video resembles computer just like the more arcades resembled the video the more irrelevant they make themselves. All were played on monitors, the distinction comes in the approach and the feel of each school.
Computer gaming is one person affixed to a desk or laptop interacting with an interface designed for general purpose office use. Not very inviting for a gathering of people to crowd around hence the starting of networking. Since it was solitary and only linked to exclusive like-minded groups an elitism came about. A new country club of gaming emerged that tended to look down with disdain to other forms of gaming. The complexity in getting the games to work only aided in the snobbery. You'd have to be a techwhiz keeping up with every component of the machinery which while impressive puts up a barrier to others not inclined to want to learn all that. Which is how many computer gamers actually wanted it—a world all to themselves to escape the common of society. The interaction is distinct and defined for computer gaming to due the nature of the interface.
Arcade gaming was designed for interpersonal social interaction and would allow for a small crowd to gather since the screen were big. The competition, sportsmanship and the atmosphere of the big arcade halls that would house the giant machines created a special gaming culture that wasn't present in the solitarianism or linked solitarianism of computer gaming. Most all arcade were designed for 2 players either alternatively or cooperatively. Camaraderie and skills were the draw here. Impressing a lesser skilled player or bystander and being able to play buffet style on one quarter as long as you were good. Your initials immortalized as long as the machine was plugged in. THAT'S what it was all about.
Video gaming was designed for the home and comfort experience. It was to be as simple to operate as a common household appliance like a toaster or a refrigerator. As easy to plug and play as a tape player or CD player. It was designed with the masses in mind which made it the most profitable. Elite means few and regardless of the importance applied to elite the physical numbers are inverse. It's the pyramid of life. The TV screen was a lot more accepted at ease by the household thanks to the TV revolution of the 1950's. It took radio's place as the center of household media experience and replaced the fireplace as the gathering ground of family. So electronic gaming piggybacked on an established phenomena in the hopes of being just as accepted. Even more than arcades videogaming allowed whole groups to gather around and play together. It can take on a competitive aspect but often it took up a familial experience of laughter. Since it was common it was smarter to keep the players cheap and the content fun and demographic-crossing. Elements of the other schools crossed over into videogaming to enrich the experience and broaden the audience. But at the core were to be widely accepted game titles and a focus on fun to make people at ease with the machine just like they are with the toaster or refrigerator. At the core of the videogaming school was the acronym KISS: Keep It Simple, Stupid.
Think about that next time before you lament the Wii. Nintendo remembers what this experience is supposed to be about.
John Lucas
