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[Shard]

http://toastyfrog.1up.com/

Well, it seems our old friend Jeremy "Toastyfrog" Parish has gone off on a couple of tangents about the current state of the state of video games and the gap between the casual and hardcoare gamers, noting that nobody has yet to truly captialize on the legions of so called "non-gamers" who liek to paly bejeweled and so forth as time waster in order to stem a tide of boredom as opposed to buying a console and getting into complex games like Halo 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andaras. Now the important question being asked here is whether the fanbase of the video game industry is getting too hardcore? Meaning that everyone, fan and vendor alike, is getting too myopic and arrogant for thier own good which will eventually lead to a bunch of obtuse and overly-specialized games that will only cater to that particular fanbase, kind of like Dungeons and Dragons was back in the second edition days. Or is the industry getting too mainstream meaning that gaming is becoming increasing dumbed-down and cliche ridden in order to appeal to the troglodyte like masses resulting in a nearly never ending parade of crap?

 

[Agent Icebeezy]

I choose the latter

 

[Shard]

Why?

 

[JackFrost2012]

oh boy, he namechecked me!

 

[Tiktaalik]

I know lots of people at school (men and women) who spend hours wasting away their time playing solitaire on the computer, purely because it's a game that is preloaded on the computer. I once attempted to install a small, good independant game on a girl's computer because i couldn't stand to see her play solitaire anymore, but she was scared of me "installing viruses on her computer" so she wouldn't have any of it.

This would be a huge audience if you can actually get them to purchase the system/handheld. I think Nintendo could be trying for it with revolution. If a company does attempt to make games catering to this crowd I'm sure as hell they'd enjoy them, but the trick is to figure out how get those games in their home.

 

[Deku]

http://toastyfrog.1up.com/

Well, it seems our old friend Jeremy "Toastyfrog" Parish has gone off on a couple of tangents about the current state of the state of video games and the gap between the casual and hardcoare gamers, noting that nobody has yet to truly captialize on the legions of so called "non-gamers" who liek to paly bejeweled and so forth as time waster in order to stem a tide of boredom as opposed to buying a console and getting into complex games like Halo 2 and Grand Theft Auto: San Andaras. Now the important question being asked here is whether the fanbase of the video game industry is getting too hardcore? Meaning that everyone, fan and vendor alike, is getting too myopic and arrogant for thier own good which will eventually lead to a bunch of obtuse and overly-specialized games that will only cater to that particular fanbase, kind of like Dungeons and Dragons was back in the second edition days. Or is the industry getting too mainstream meaning that gaming is becoming increasing dumbed-down and cliche ridden in order to appeal to the troglodyte like masses resulting in a nearly never ending parade of crap?

Yes, there's always that risk and I think segments of the video game community has gotten into that sort of funk.

The PC Strategy universe for example seem to appeal mostly to older well educated men who grew up with games, and technology and nothing else. This makes for very very good discussions about the games after release and I've seen guys pick apart the algorithms behind the models for the Civ III game and expansion packs, but that also means games like Civ III great as they are, don't command the kind of presence it used to.

Granted it still sells very well and sold well enough to warrant Atari to issue 2 expansion packs and multiple repackaging of the game.

On the console side, I see this as less of a problem. The company that runs the greatest risk of being stuck in a kind of hardcore myopia is Nintendo, but from what I've seen of their efforts and the general fanbase they have, Nintendo is quite capable of getting new gamers into the fold. Animal Crossing attracted so many female gamers to GameCube I've had many many conversation peices with girls around that game on dates and they love it. We would trade furniture and stuff and joke about moving in with each other, virtually. As for its other franchises, games like Zelda and Mario always have a ready group of new gamers to embrace it.

 

[radioheadrule83]

^^ with regards to Nintendo running the risk of hardcore myopia...

I think this is exactly the cause behind the Nintendo DS and upcoming Revolution. They know that a hardcore sect of Nintendo fans is backing them, which is all well and good, but they want to expand their own little market, reach out and get more. With the DS, and the way that they talk about Revolution too, I get the sense that they'll carry on doing what they've always done.... but also, reach out to the kinds of people who play bejeweled, or stay glued to cellphone games but never think of buying a console.

I think they're going for, as Peter Molyneux envisioned Iwata's philosophy, for great simplicity with depth. Simpler interfaces as an option, new or existing good gameplay. Ideally of course.

 

[ToxicAdam]

The only games that reach out to non-gamers are "transcendent" games. Tetris, DDR (and other rythym games) and Pac Man.

What do they share in common? Simplicity. Design, control and concept. That's why a game like Katamari Damacy generates such interest ... because it has the potential to be added to that list (if it receives a good marketing push with its second incarnation)


That's where Nintendo fails ... they see hardware as the answer. Create the hardware, then the games will create themselves. I don't think it works that way.

 

[Deku]

Nintendo has never seen hardware as the answer.

Hardware is the means to an end to them, they are a software company and an entiretainment company, not an electronics maker. The difference between the PSP and the DS should make it clear that Nintendo is not about hardware, although their hardware judgements have gotten them into trouble many times over.

We'll see if this holds with the DS.