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The Escapist Magazine Launches
A new online gaming mag has launched with an impressive array of contributors. Entitled The Escapist, the magazine appears to be going for gamer culture and commentary, as opposed to specific product information. Jennifer Buckendorff goes into what it means to be a gamer in Gamer Like Me, Kieron Gillen comments on the scapegoating of the games industry in Culture Wargames, and Tycho Brahe talks acceptance in The Mainstream is Coming! The Mainstream is Coming!. From Buckendorff's article: "Am I a gamer? I review video games for various sources, including a major metropolitan newspaper. In May, I made the rounds of E3 for ten hours a day. I have a carefully selected games library, and my adoration of GTA dates back to the London expansion pack, when I used a double-decker bus to evil ends. I grew up in the arcades, standing on tiptoes to feed quarters into the slots. I give game recommendations to friends and acquaintances as if I were reading their tea leaves. But, in the opinion of some, I am not a gamer."
While I love Tycho's article about video games becoming mainstream, I wanted to clarify my points on the issue.
It was a dark day for me, when in junior high or high school, I was talking with my fellow outcasts (and I'm not kidding, we were geeks/nerds/freaks/whatever at the school) about FFVII and some average looking girl whose skin showed signs a blush of health said "Yeah I play that game. It's awesome, but I hate how you have to walk around and talk to people"
Clouds gathered in the sky that day. A girl actually talked to us that wasn't one of us already, and then we find out that the masses have caught wind of our hidden trove of joy.
And they misunderstood it in every way.
Since that day of reckoning, I drew further into a realm of actual RPGs (and not just Diablo clones (though some can be quite fun)) and strategy. This makes it easy to pick out the average gamer from the those of us that would have been the only gamers years ago because I tell them PC is my favorite system. If they reply with nothing more than an inquisitive look, then I know where their loyalties lie.
In the real world, it's really not that much different for me for the fact that I don't play most of the mainstream games. About the most mainstream thing I have is Guild Wars and I don't even own a console. While I make no claim of being uber gamer or geek supreme, my way of telling the pop-gamers from not is usually a matter of genre. But that's only because of my preference.
Everyone has become more digital in some way in the last decade whether geek or not. It's weird to talk with people about a game when we have nothing else in common sometimes, but I think we'll just have to deal with losing some of our safe haven.
Perfecting Discordia
www.stevenvansickle.com
The example in the article, of a person who plays only GTA3 but plays it all the time, is no more a gamer than someone who saw Star Wars III ten times is a movie buff.
I think "gamer", implying someone who really likes gaming in general, has a requirement of a sense of history. Sometimes people try to put time into it (someone isn't a real gamer unless they've been playing for X years and remember buying ET for their Atari 2600), but I've seen this phenomenon in music... some artists start out with a small dedicated following for many years, and suddenly become very popular. Some people say that you're not a real fan of Band Z unless you knew them before the radio or whatever, but I think that if you become a fan later on, as long as you look beyond the "popular" stuff and realize that, hey, this band has been around for awhile and has more songs than just Overplayed Radio Tune, and seek out the older stuff, then you can become just as much of a fan as someone who has followed them around in bars for ages.
The same thing applies in movies. Unless you're around 90 years old, you can't be a "movie buff" only having watched movies when they first came out. You have to acknowledge the classics.
And, more ontopic, the same thing applies to movies. Even if you don't know where to find the Warp Zone in world 5 of SMB, or where the three (or is it four?) warp whistles are in SMB3, or whatever, you still have to acknowledge them as pioneers. As Tycho said in a Penny Arcade comic awhile ago "I'm sure you've played Final Fantasy X, and that's great, but X isn't just, like, a letter. It means 'ten'."
The author of the article is obviously a gamer. She gave other examples (the boy who only plays GTA3), but I can't get back to the article now to quote them.
I think maybe where this is falling down is that some people are trying to use "gamer" as just "someone who plays games", rather than "someone who is a fan of games". There's a big difference, and I suppose it is a failing of English that there's not really two separate words yet.
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum sonatur.
Talk about a flamebait title
I found this article to be particularly insightful. The writer sets out several examples of innovation on the part of both Nintendo and the competition. He/She then clearly illustrates how the vast majority of innovations in videogaming aren't assimilated into the canon of game development/interface.
Like a lot of slashdotters, I grew up with a NES & SMS in the house. I'm coming at this from the perspective of someone who wants this company to succeed. Check it out, it's not like I don't own a few Nintendo systems & games.
The author hits the nail on the head though. Nintendo seems far too concerned with distancing themselves from their competitors and not nearly focussed enough on developing appealing content. I agree 100% that the company may not survive in its current state beyond the next generation. Now please, before anybody responds with Japanese sales numbers understand that I want Nintendo to do well. But that market is not what it used to be with respect to dominating the videogame market. I've read interviews with industry execs talking about reviving the ailing industry in Japan. Like it or not, the North American market is clearly the battlefield upon which the big N needs to wage war. I don't see them doing this.
Nintendogs. Yes yes, I know. It's a huge hit in Japan. Does anybody honestly believe that that type of success can succeed in this (NA) market? I may be wrong, but I certainly don't. I'm someone that follows the gaming scene pretty closely, and all I know about it is that it appears to be a Tamagochi in dog's clothing. The mass market which gobbles up the Halos, Maddens & GTAs (all fine games) will likely not be interested.
The majority of games I've played on the DS offer little more than brief diversions. I'm sure that there are some titles that provide a deep and rich experience but the system hasn't even been marketed to profile that. Most people I've talked to (granted, it's not something I bring up at dinner parties) find the entire thing a little offputting. Chances are excellent that I'll get one eventually, but I'm more of a completist than your broadly-drawn NBA Street fan.
Third party support for the Gamecube has dropped to a frighteningly small pool of developers. When you're a hardware/software company that releases 3 or 4 big titles a year, you had better foster important ties to your third parties otherwise your userbase will be left wanting.
Coming from someone who owned both Samba Di Amigo maracas and a Virtua Boy, Nintendo seriously needs to reconsider its position in the market. We're all aware of the huge cash reserves it has, and we're all aware of the worldwide edge the GCN apparently has on the Xbox. They currently rule entire handheld industry & have maintained that stranglehold through excellent software and rock solid hardware. The new direction of "pure innovation" however, is going to destroy the company.
If you could be anything you want, I'll bet you'd be disappointed.
I think that the "Nintendo is Dying!" rant is wrong. Here's why:
-The Gamecube was the only console of its generation to be profitable. Every PS2 and Xbox that was made cost Sony and Microsoft money.
-The DS is beating the PSP in sales in Japan. I believe that it's winning in the US, but I can't find any hard data.
-The Revolution will almost certainly be the only profitable console of its generation.
-Microsoft's Xbox division is in the red by several billion dollars. Nintendo has only slightly less profit than Sony does, even though Sony has significantly more sales and market share.
-The Gamecube is only slightly behind the Xbox for US sales, but is solidly in second place in the world.
If you want to compare them to Sega, then you should take note of the large disparities in profit on console sales and in general between the two companies. If anyone is going to pull out of the console hardware business, I see it being Microsoft.