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Sega Boss Stresses Fun Factor, Simpler Games
Thanks to Video-Fenky for their translation of an interview with Hisao Oguchi, the new boss of Sega. In it, Oguchi argues that less "grandiose games" are the way to rejuvenate the games market, referencing titles such as The Sims, Animal Crossing and Namco's Taiko no Tatsujin as good models for doing this, and saying: "Developers can't force their game worlds and huge stories on users. We can't have people balk at sitting in front of the TV and playing games because it's too tiring. All games are made to be fun for the people playing them, so in the next generation especially, making content that doesn't feel tiring to gamers will be very important."
The guy understands the secret to enjoyable games. Right now, games are super-elaborate to please the under-20 crowd, who have lots of time to spend on such things. However, the older, more wealthy segment of the population just doesn't care to learn the 400 odd special moves in Tekken Tag Tournament, they have better things to do with their lives.
Enter simple games.
The problem with this is, grandiose games are easy to market. "It will blow your mind!!!" etcetera. If another tetris-like breakthrough came out today, it wouldn't be marketable to sell for $60, and so would slip through the EB and Babbage's crowd unnoticed.
Enter the PC.
Shareware is a distribution model that supports less-than-grandiose titles. After all, if you've already tried the game and like it, you'll be more likely to buy it than another, more expensive game that promises "pulse-pounding action!!!". Can Smega make games with this model? I doubt it will.
And of course, Linux is the ultimate distribution model for games that are actually fun. Since its relatively easy to get put in a distro, millions will see your game. I know the first thing I checked when upgrading to Debian Sarge was the games menu. Circus Linux or Copter Commander will not "blow you away!!!" but they are fun and pass the time. : )
Actually, The 'Summons' in FF10 are long the first time you use them, then are edited down on subsiquent calls, as you get bored of them. It works so well, I didnt really notice until about the 20th time I called up Ifrit or whoever... I have an odd feeling that FF8 and FF9 were the same, too - and I DO know that the KOTR summon was WAY longer first time thru than later times...