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Game Design for a Younger Audience
Gamasutra.com is running an article entitled Shaping Ty the Tasmanian Tiger 2 for the Younger Market. Beyond the interesting dilmmas associated with designing for a younger audience, the article is a good examiniation of following up on a successful franchise without alienating your fanbase. From the article: "Aiming towards a young market with family friendly content doesn't mean you have to make a game without all the exciting features adult gamers come to expect in a premium title. This time around, we were determined to include some of the ideas that didn't make it into the first game (like more giant robots and vehicle based missions), and concentrate more on the "action" elements of platformer games. "
Care to back up your argument? Are profanity, sex and violence the only features adults expect from their games? (or do most adults actually prefer Myst or Tetris over GTA San Andreas?)
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
GTA: San Andreas, Halo 2, Half-Life 2, Resident Evil 4?
You're comparing apples to oranges. Those games are obviously not aimed at a young market nor are they considered family-friendly. Personally, those games do not appeal to me in the slightest.
Instead, think of the first Jak and Daxter, all the Zelda games, Mario Kart / Double Dash, and Donkey Kong 64, for instance. Those games are probably what they are referring to, ones that appeal to both me and my kids.
Sig cancelled due to lack of interest
The second part of the article talks about using focus groups to test and refine game design... in this case, the focus group ( and some of the lessons learned ) are specific to the age range, but really, it's just standard focus testing stuff.
As to some of the other comments, like reviews and game ranking, well... when you've developed a product that you know doesn't target the strongest demographic of your market, you *know* it's not going to be the top seller. Same deal with character tie-in games: the SpongeBob SquarePants games may be great, but nobody working on them need be under the illusion that they're working on a game that will end up top-selling; it's just not going to happen.
As far as the reviews go, when there is a kid-centric game review publication, there will be 'fair' ratings for kid-centric games. Until then, reviews will be targeted to the reviewing publication's target audience... and will be skewed if that audience is not the same as the one you've developed a game for.