Diary of an Aging Gamer

eToyChest has an insightful column up looking at the realities of the modern game store shelf, and how the titles there relate to the youth of today. From the article: "This year's summer trip to the software store made one thing very clear to me: In its efforts to follow initial adopters into adulthood, the videogame industry has--inadvertently or otherwise--left children in the dust. There is no denying the fact that today's kids aren't going to have the same experience we had when we were young. Back then, the bread and butter of the big game companies (i.e., Atari, Sega, Nintendo and others) was the child market. Games were appealing to grown-ups, too--if only for the tech factor--but appealing to the kids was where the most money could be had. Walking into the game store meant finding a wall full of games dedicated to the young player."

Comments

Re:No Adult Left Behind

[sithsasquatch]

You seem to underestimate the sheer amount of money that children control through their parents. E games keep Nintendo profitable.

Actually, making fun, innovative games without needing to rely on a loss-leader to sell consoles is what keeps Nintendo profitable.

Re:No Adult Left Behind

[aliens]

If they can take the same characters over and over and do fun things with them. Mario Cart, Super Smash Brothers, Metroid Prime, who cares?

Then of course they can produce things like Pikmin, and Warioware.

Why focus so much on those few main characters? I don't see anyone complaining about the reuse of the Final Fantasy properties, or Metal Gear, Madden, etc. All of which Nintendo manages to get into their world as well.