The Day the Gaming Industry Died: Impressions from E3 2010

[ad7venture]

This week is maybe the biggest of the year in the world of entertainment. This is when all of the games you'll be playing for the next 12 months are unveiled at the Electronic Entertainment Expo. This year's event, however, will more likely be remembered as the precise moment video gaming as we know it died a tragic and embarrassing death.

cracked.com

[Imari]

Oh my, that's an interesting article....  It reminds me of the change in the TV schedule before and after the explosion of "reality shows".   The reality shows are cheap to make as opposed to dramas and comedies.   

I was dumbstruck by this oddity - so strange.

If you haven't been keeping up with the conference, let me summarize by saying Microsoft--and I'm not making this up--had Cirque du Soleil unveil a $150 kitten petting simulator via interpretive dance. The Cirque du Soleil performers rode in on animatronic elephants

Thanks for the find, AD.

[ad7venture]

The reality shows are cheap to make as opposed to dramas and comedies.

Ha ha, I think that was the nail in the coffin for television.   I remember when that island show started and everyone was talking about it.  It just seemed so dorky to me, but to be fair, I never watched it.

Microsoft has never really gotten it when it comes to design.  The best they can do is copy someone or hire someone to do it for them.  Either way they come out looking stupid all the time.  I think games, though expensive to make, are stuck in a rut.  These input device games are really the only thing new that's been going on, but it's not going to compensate for bad or routine games.  If they get used for rich media content, that would be great, but it seems like there's either a choice of short, input heavy games, like body arcade, or RPG's and Shooters that are on their nth incarnation, or MMO's that look completely sterile to me even though I haven't given them a chance at all.

Everyone is afraid that games will become too much like movies, but I think they aren't enough like movies.  They don't have the plot or character strength.  The game play makes them phony.  How can you have a plot when the main character kills thousands of enemies?  They need puzzles or something else to cut down on the amount of carnage and to fit better with a real plot.  Games treat people like 8 year olds.  They have to have their immediate rewards, like level up, new weapons, etc.  It's getting really old.

[Kickaha]

The article was arguing that games are sold by gimmicks, and the games industry is running out of gimmicks?

To me that's a good sign.  We might get some decent games finally!

[ad7venture]

Ha, that's a good way to look at it.  Games are here to stay.  It's kind of like everyone proclaiming the death of adventure games for the last 10 years or so.  They're not as prevalent, but they're around.  The hidden object games are a branch of adventures, and we still get a major work now and again, but their hay day is gone I suppose.
 
It's always been pretty gimmicky, so it's kind of hard to tell.  I think a lot of people, especially hardcore gamers, don't like the casual movement.  I'm sure we'll have more and more internet content that competes with hardcore games, and probably more casual content for consoles.  Hardcore games have probably peaked, but they'll be around.  There were an awful lot anyway.  Game sales have been dropping for quite a while and it might be more than the economy causing it.  I'm hoping it will morph into more content rich stuff, myself, but I guess we'll have to see.

[Imari]

I don't really think they need so many gimmicks or so many new technologies.  I honestly think it's the gamplay that draws people in.   I still like to play simple card and puzzles games, as well as adventure games.

I can recall may son and his friends, when they were little waiting and waiting for the sequel to Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  Had the sequel just given them more of the same they'd have been extremely happy and would have flocked to the stores, but the company waited for better technology... and it took years.  By that time my son and his friends had reached the early teenage stage and those who bought the sequel bought it mosty for nostalgia. 
 
I also think that persistent games, like WoW where people are progressing in a game that never ends have cut into the sales of single player games.  My son and his friends like to have LAN parties and I would think that LAN parties would boost the sale of single player war games.  Yet, my son was telling me that the online site where he and his friends most play is about to discontinue LAN access.   Something about the site combining assets.... or something.   (Sorry, when they talk war games I tend to zone out.)   Go figure.

[ad7venture]

My son and his friends like to have LAN parties and I would think that LAN parties would boost the sale of single player war games.

That is somewhat of a missed market.  Single player games are really on the downhill run.  They cost a lot to market and they're easy to pirate, and social gaming is becoming more popular.  I don't like the social gaming thing, myself.  I don't think I'd mind playing a game with a few mature people, but usually those games attract teenies that are just going through that crude stage.  I'm sure single player will always be around, there will just be less of it and the games will be smaller budget.  I don't consider that necessarily a bad thing.  Engines keep improving and getting cheaper so what was big budget a few years back can be pretty easily made small budget now.

[Imari]

I'm sort of banned from the downstairs while they play (all night long!), but there's lots of loud yelling and burst of raucous laughter.  They seem to have a good time.   

[Igor Hardy]

In my opinion, just like games, TV and movies are sold by new gimmicks, as well as by true innovations. Of course, giving the audience more of what they already like is important too - it just isn't enough in the long run.

At the moment it looks more like it's movies and TV that have run out of gimmicks, not games. Games are only starting. The Wii, Kinect controllers are not simply new gimmicks. They are more an investment into casual gamers than attention-grabbers for the hardcore crowd. It's just that the big companies see casual games as a bigger market now, and the hardcore people have to stop worrying about having super-duper, expensive graphics and the big companies' labels in their games.

[Kickaha]

Depends what you mean by casual gamers but when I think of casual games I think of the kind of games Big Fish do, the kind of game you might play in a browser.  Kinect isn't aimed at that sector, more at those who want the latest gizzmo to have in their lounge to show off to visitors. 

[ad7venture]

At the moment it looks more like it's movies and TV that have run out of gimmicks, not games. Games are only starting.

I don't think you can lump movies with tv.  Television uses a lot of gimmicks to get out low budget content.  Movies are sold by their content.  There might be a few gimmicks like 3d or something, but basically they sell them by content alone and they do a fairly good job, although it does seem like it's hard for me to find a decent movie to watch.  That's probably more for different tastes, like books.  There isn't talk about some super duper technology shift.  CG graphics have had some impact, but I think that's as it should be. 
Games constantly have to have a new engine or they aren't even considered a new game.  Even though they have a completely new story they are considered add-ons or clones if they haven't made some kind of internal change.  It's starting to change a little bit, especially with consoles that don't change hardware for 5 or more years, but I still think they are more gimmick.  They are just starting to move out of that stage.  The stories have to be borderline silly to match the game play, which is repetitive, so they have to have gimmicks.  Weapon upgrades and level ups are just gimmicks.  If they had an involving story with content related challenges, you wouldn't need them and they would just get in the way except for maybe a few.  As it is, it's like giving a kid a lolly pop every time he gets a good grade on his paper or does something he was supposed to do.  We all need encouragement, but when it's taken to that level, it's childish.  An adult gets reward from a challenge completed and a job well done.