The Nintendo Wii has certainly done a great thing: It has attracted a large number of people, who do not play games- to play video games. Many up and down the board criticized Nintendo for their marketing strategies, but it has paid off in a few ways: namely with a larger user base and increased significance for a sub culture that was talked down to 10+ years ago.
The new "casual" gamer of today isn't all about video games though. There is no obsession or real interest to play a video game. Catering to shallow thinkers (because we all know that the world is training shallow thinkers), casual gamers won't touch something unless it is quick, simple, easy, and gratifying. It doesn't hurt to look good, too.
Enter portable and tablet games. I'm not talking about handheld games such as the 3Ds or Vita (which are gaming platforms), but smartphones, online games, and tablet games. The old dinosaurs running the multi-million dollar corporations decided to give these "new fangled" gadgets a try, and to their surprise they made them billions. Don't change what doesn't need to be changed, and keep feeding those unsuggestive suckers what they are eating is the doctrine.
I'm not pushing an opinion that every person should become a hardcore gamer. In fact, the majority of people probably don't like games that make you think, or for that matter, any activity that makes you critically think. I just don't like where the industry is going, and where it has been for the past three or so years.
Those dinosaurs I talked about earlier? their cousins, the molerat analysts, predict that "tablet gaming and smart phone gaming will take over traditional consoles within five years". This is a sad and bleak proposition, indeed for the hordes of gamers out there, the majority of which I don't even really like (you know, the ones that play Call of Doody, Brawl, or some other mainstream hit game religiously). Maybe they call me resistant to change, but as more gamers migrate to dedicated platforms available by Nintendo, Sony or Microsoft- there will be a market for in depth games.
I just hope that, one of these days, it [console making] doesn't become a financial burden (i.e., non profitable). I interviewed one person for this article, and told him that I was investigating where console manufacturers were going.
"Every five or six years or so, the next generation of games come out". With rising technology costs to get the best of everthing 'right now', console manufacturers have to hang back before they can produce tomorrow's (which soon becomes yesterday's) technology. Why is the current generation of consoles stuck where it is? Why aren't they moving forward? Why aren't gamers willing to pay more money for advanced hardware? Have we reached the top of Mount Everest, so to speak?
John, are interviewee, argues that console producers are milking the current generation for all it is worth. Without the demand to pay more for upgraded technology, people settle for less so they do not have to pay for more. To John, the industry shouldn't fix what isn't broke. Why bother upgrading, when the current world economy is not doing so well? No one will buy the expensive consoles if manufacturers make them, and this omen scares the pants off of the executives: making nervous moves in troubling times.
Is it time for technology to move forward, or are game developers scratching the surface *COUGHCUTTINGCORNERS* when it comes to the capabilities of the current generation? food for thought. What I am trying to say is this- I don't want every video game for the future made as simple as solitaire and put on a smart phone or tablet.
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