The fact is not short attention spans but sheep. Somepeople are sheep they must follow others, so if one person thinks that the PS3 is doomed lots of sheep will think wait a minute theres a statement we must agree with it. Then after they do that they go off to chew on some grass.

How are BioShock's levels linear in the slightest? Sure, there are the same enemies and events, but the way you go about doing the game will vary hugely from person to person. Didn't you see the slogan?

"No two playthroughs will ever be the same"

"No two players will ever play the same way"

And it's true.

I suppose our short attention spans are to blame for the average of 15 posts before a derail?

This one's slightly above average. 25 posts.

I suppose bioshock was a bad example,after i beat it i never played it again,it was at launch too,but most linear games are like that.

Iwata, at GDC 2006, has compared Nintendo’s strategy in relation to competitors to be like Pepsi, and its cola competitors. There may be a better analogy: Detroit.

”The Car Industry?”

American business is infected by what is called the ‘Detroit Disease’. Hedge funds and investment banks, filled with the personal invulnerability associated with hot-headed teenagers, ignored the risks of what they were doing and eventually came to believe the risks weren’t even there. One of America’s largest toy-maker believed they could make big profits without spending much thought on quality by outsourcing all the production to China. Now that they discovered lead in the paint and other hazards, the recalls will cost millions and, what is more expensive, reputation.

”What matters, Malstrom, is the bottom line.”

Yes, the bottom line! Never mind paying ordinary people good salaries. Let’s just reward those on the top. And let us slash the pensions of those employees who dedicated their lives to the company. Forget about giving consumers quality. Just pile it higher and higher and sell it cheaper than the next guy. Keep your profits high by cutting everything else: staffing, quality, systems, and standards.

”Then how does Nintendo have such a high profit margin for its number of employees?”

This is a key question that those poisoned with the Detroit Disease, mostly Westerners, will not comprehend. Working for Nintendo is said to be very hard but the employees love what they do. Nintendo raised such a high profit margin by doing the opposite of the Detroit Disease:  by enforcing high quality, taking care of their employees, and keeping their standards high. Business journals stare at awe of the profit and employee ratio but, apparently, they aren’t seeing the company for what it is.

”Explain the Detroit Disease.”

Detroit Disease is the following:

-Belief that the market is immune to outsiders.

-Belief that GDP growth drives auto sales, that ‘growth’ means growth in market share, and that buyers are price-driven.

-Belief that price was something that was jacked up by leather models, white walls, and radios.

-Belief in the immortal words of Lee Iacocca who said, ‘the most important thing is the deal!’”

The Japanese had a completely different context than America did. The Japanese believed they were always in a global market, far bigger than the US, and that they (including Toyota) were small players on a global stage. For them, it was always about growth, not market share. They aimed the price low, but kept as much high quality as possible, in order to grow the market until they had earned the right to sell cars at higher price points. It was not about the ‘deal’ with customers, it was the ‘relationship’ with customers.

The reader was wide-eyed. “This fits Microsoft to a T. Have they become the General Motors to gaming?”

Look at the contexts. In the last article of ‘A Fool’s Paradise’, you saw analyst after analyst, most of them western, inflicted with Detroit Disease. They were not concerned with true growth, only market share. Sony, interestingly, seems affected by this as well as they seem focused on winning the Western markets. The price was jacked up by movie playback and other frills. Every NPD, the analysts go into glee saying, ‘Look at the rising revenue! This means gaming is growing!’ This matches the Detroit way of thinking.

The reader added, “And they believe the ‘deal’ is more important than the ‘relationship’. Countless bundles and coupons they think will move those systems. They also do not think anything outside can threaten the game industry since they perceive game consoles as requiring billions of dollars of loss for the first couple of years!”

Quite true. It is well established today that Microsoft did their console business on the cheap. Even their customer service is outsourced to other countries! Microsoft reps defended this by saying that all American companies do it. Unfortunately for them, we are in a global market now. The loss of a billion dollars for 360 repairs could have been easily avoided had Microsoft been less cheap and used more quality control. When gamers send in their 360s to repair, they should remember the ‘Detroit Disease’.

The reader said, ”The belief of immunity from outsiders is interesting. Casual gaming was always around. Nintendo didn’t invent it. But someone else would eventually make a system such as the Wii and could have stolen traditional game market. A new interactive entertainment experience could easily disrupt the current way.”

(I nodded.) Disrupt or be disrupted. Nintendo got there first. When Detroit began failing to the Japanese, they came up with all sorts of excuses such as “deathtrap” used cars (whose only real threat was to prices of new cars), fashion quirks in California, excise taxes, Japanese conspiracy, and so on.”

”And this happened to the game industry!” the reader said. “They came up with all sorts of excuses. They blamed used games. They said Wii was a ‘fad’. They then said Wii had no real games, only casual non-games.”

The big problem of Detroit is their health care costs, negotiated at a time of no competition, and used in a short sighted manner back then to attract employees without foreseeing the eventual costs. Now Detroit, and many other American businesses, demand government universal health care merely to bail them out of their finances. No one held a gun to Detroit’s head when they made those health care pension plans.

”This mirrors the game industry as well! No one held a gun to the Industry’s head to throw as much technology as possible into the hardware, the equivalent of a console on steroids, and demanding every game have breathtaking HD visuals. They whine and moan about the costs but forget that they inflicted it on themselves.”

Right! Now, how can you tell whether an analyst or message board analyst has been infected by the Detroit disease?

”I don’t know. How?”

”They will:

-Believe sales are primarily price driven. (‘When PS3 and Xbox 360 have their price cuts, it is over for the Wii!’)
-Believe that the deal (‘Look at that bundle with coupons! What a great deal!’) is everything.
-Believe success is only measured in shininess and shoes, not the happiness or joy the products bring to this Earth. (‘Who cares if Wii Sports is something that families enjoy doing together!? I don’t want to hear about that!’)”

http://malstrom.50webs.com/risingcontinent2.htm