I got to see all E3 press conferences thus far, and what I see screaming out to me now is that, the videogame fan no longer is the major decider on what are titles and produces. It looks like the bean counters and marketing suits have taken over. We are now being served what marketing surveys and demograph studies have. We have a ton of "We need that also" going about. It is said to be seen as "responding to customers" but not from the soul of videogame fans, but more like what spreadsheets come out. Let me say that it isn't completely souless, but the decision making for what will be produces appears to come out of survey groups, and speculating on what will be the "next big thing" or making sure a console has that, so it isn't left out. You have stuff by Team Ico, and indie games, and some other things, but let me give you an example of what is going on now:
1. Nintendo, Microsoft, and Sony all see what Apple is doing, and have tried to position to ward them off. We have seen them do things to try to counter, including the PSP Go, at the $250 price point. There is the relaunch of the Zune and also DSi. Sony I would say is particularly suspect on this. Sheesh, they diverted a bunch of attention away from the PS3 so that the PSP would get coverage. Metal Gear and also Gran Turismo's developers have to focus on getting PSP products out, diverting away from the PS3, so they can counter apple.
2. Motion control. How much more am I going to have to see this? Nintendo is the only one with a product set to come out soon. It is an update add-on to get the Wii to do what is promised. Again, what was seen is how much motion control made the Wii what it is, so we have to witness counters to this. Doesn't even matter if you are close to getting a product out, and don't even know the price point, just say your platform can do it, in a superior matter. Hey, I am all in favor of new controls, and more natural gameplay. But the copying of these trends is pushing it.
3. Kart racing. Thank you Mario Kart for selling like you did. Now Microsoft and Sony have to bring out their own versions of it. So, we get Kart racing up the Wazoo. And I have to see MINUTES of limited time in these press conferences dedicated to Kart racing. Microsoft thinks making Kart racing like Sony Home is the answer, while Sony thinks that a LittleBigPlanet Kart racing game is the answer (and you can't even use Sackboys with it. COME ON!).
4. inFAMOUS and Crackdown. Want to replace those two with "Sandbox" go ahead? Anyone think these games came out of a void somewhere, inspired because someone thought it would be cool? You kidding me? They both are attempts for Sony and Microsoft to have Sandbox games. And inFAMOUS does borrow from Crackdown, with the Shards. Yes, it works, and inFAMOUS is great, but who wants to argue it isn't because executives saw they needed a product in a given niche to hit a target market? inFAMOUS even borrows from the Crackdown-Halo 3 marketing, by throwing in Uncharted 2 multiplayer beta. Gee, where did I see that before?
5. Shadow Complex. The marketing suits decide they need an XBox 360 answer for Metroid.
6. Miis, Avatars and Home. One console has this, so the others need it. Need Avatars EVERYWHERE is the mentality. And Sony feels that Second Life is all that, so they come up with Home.
7. Achievements and trophies. Again, we have this here.
8. Wii Music. Gee, if it weren't for Guitar Hero and Rock Band, would this have ever seen the day?
9. LittleBigPlanet and Live Community Games. Looking to capitalize on Web 2.0 and supposed "user created content" (YouTube being a start point. Yes, PCs have had it, but that is PCs), the marketing and bean counters decide, "Hey, let's have the user create their own content for games, because that is HOT!".
10. Tweens and "casual gamers". Gee, huge "untapped" market. Need to pander to tweens, so have to do a fashion mall game. Low production costs and also good returns. And now lets throw "self-improvement" in this here. Need to hit a target demographic, so contract out to some company to make a product that panders properly and will cater to people.
11. Franchises. It is now about franchises. Games and characters are brands you look to build up, so you can sell more product.
It all looks like the money men now run the show. Overdoing and capitalizing excessively on trends that seem hot. Games assembled by specs that marketing types have assembled by survey groups on what they want. Innovation via business types. We still hold out some hope, but tell me I just didn't see a Super Mario Bros. game that Miyamoto didn't bother to announce at E3, that looks like it was based off what marketing types said is needed, that being Super Mario Bros. as a party game?
I will get off the soapbox here, but I am feeling increased "soulessness" creeping in. Maybe we have run out of frontiers, but I miss the days when gamers drove wild products to be launched, and you got surprised this way. Now, it appears the MEGATONS we wait for is an established franchise to make a jump to one console, or a known developer to go exclusive on another. One hopes the soul of the gamer comes through, but I am a bit suspect here. I guess the price is too high for developing for this to happened.
