Three Steps to Success: Introduction

June 27th, 2008

Several times already I have attempted to pull apart and logically analyze various issues of interest regarding the evolutionary growth of our medium (video games). In the majority of cases though this has resulted in some awkward, inconclusive answers. While many of my ideas come inspired from favourite bloggers of mine, I always seem to draw blanks when it comes to logically grounding my ideas.

After some further thought and collaborative thinking with others I finally think that I have it packed down. So I would like to put forth my ideas in a new “mini series” of posts, sorting out one issue after the other.

As I said in this post; I feel that the video game industry is currently moving through very prosperous times. Yet despite our success, more needs to be done to main and extend this golden age into the coming decades.

For us to become fully recognized and taken seriously by mainstream global media . To get there we don’t just need to change, we need to reform and remodel our opinions towards crucial themes and issues holding us back. This selection of posts intends to break down those issues and suggest some conclusions which we can adopt. Here is the list and order of posts:

Introduction
Implications with Classification of Hardcore and Casual
Fanboys and How to Deal With Them
Game Reviews: Critique, Subjectivity and a 10 Point Scale
Summary

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Everything is Working in Perfect Harmony

June 3rd, 2008

nintendo ds rainbow

I remember back a few years ago I read an article which talked about Hollywoodisation of the video games industry. The core idea was that as game development budgets rose across all platforms the quality of games would level out and more developers would take less risks in order to survive. This would in turn force developers to create more safe bets breeding a multitude of generic, samey games. Essentially this article forcasted the death for the video game industry.

At the time it definitely sounded realistic. I mean from where we sat we all knew that the cost of development would rise and that it would change the way that the industry operates. Looking at this theory now though it’s clear to see that no such thing exists. On second thoughts its not hard to argue that games are infact less like this now than before.

Balance and What Makes Balance

The idea of Hollywoodisation is very one dimensional, it had no choice but to be that way because back then we could have never predicted how games would evolve into what they are now. With the coming of the latest generation of games we have seen new outlets open up providing users with more selection rather than the idea of the one size fits all format that we have been walking for sometime. These many new evolutions have ensured that we are currently more balanced than ever in turn lowering the burden that Hollywoodisation has on our industry. Lets look at some of these avenues that have helped out industry evolve so much in such a short amount of time.
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Breaking Down Casual Gaming Misconceptions

April 21st, 2008

casual gaming misconceptions wii fit

You know something that really frustrates me beyond belief? When I am scrolling through an online message board and find gamers whom downright slag out the recent push for casual gaming. This new orientation of gaming has undeniably been receiving quite a lot of heat from a number of members within the ‘core’ gaming crowd. Especially among hardened Wii owners whom are feeling the pressure on their identities as gamers. You see, the truth is a lot of this hate is extremely misguided.

I’ve had this article in cold storage for at least a month now and it was only the other day that another couple of incidents occurred which reminded me of how important this issue is. So I want to tackle this issue head on and hopefully continue to report on and share my ideas on the topic. Please let me know what you think.

What is Casual Gaming?

Casual gaming is essentially gaming made for casual gamers or non gamers, that is people who are new to or don’t play video games on a regular basis. Casual gaming in a way is designed to be the first stepping stone for new players onto the gaming scene.

What Defines a Game a ‘Casual Game’?

It is generally accepted that casual games would consist of at least two or more of the following attributes:

But more importantly it has to successfully appeal and be easily enjoyable by new players. To further clarify what a casual game is here are some examples of games that fit this bill:gameboy casual gaming

So now that we know what casual gaming is all about lets dive into some misconceptions.

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