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Is the Xbox 360 Really Mom Friendly?
Alex writes "Just prior to the XBOX 360's launch last November, in an interview with Primotech, Peter Moore boldly declared that someday "your mom would be playing the XBOX 360." In a twenty-page feature, we today put his words to the test, with a thorough investigation of how mom-friendly the 360, and videogaming in general, has become. The bigger picture: Has gaming finally reached the massive mainstream market?"
The Sims has been pure Soap Opera from day one.
What would kids do to rebel if mom was playing their video games? Go back to playing board games? Go outside and set more fires? Mom HAS to hate video games, or they will lose their largest audience -- kids who want to have something to do that differentiates them from their parents.
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From the article:
"I dont consider myself a very tech savvy person. Heck, I still have trouble navigating my email. Yet I had no trouble hooking up the XBOX 360. A perfunctory glance at the included documentation was needed to verify a few points, but other than that, its nearly fool-proof."
Hasn't this been true of just about every console in history? If anything, the 360 is far more complex than previous consoles because it relies on a network connection for much of its functionality, and thus one more wire and one more point of failure. The article goes on to describe how the games are reasonably accessable...
"I found the controls in most titles to be too esoteric for me and I was just uncomfortable sitting in one place, holding a controller in my warm, tense hands. But over the course of time, I came to relax with the controller and master several of the controls in the games I attempted to play."
Again, things have only risen in complexity since the days of the NES and prior (not a bad thing, of course). If anything has brought gaming to the masses, it's marketing - certainly not any change in ease of use.
Maybe it's just me, but every commercial for an XBox 360 game ending in, "Rated M for Mature" might just be turning Mom off. I mean, I'm sure that deep-down she wants to go around disembowling alien creatures all day like Angela Landsbury, fly a spaceship like Mary Tyler Moore, and race in a demolition race like Dolly Parton, but she doesn't exactly advertise that fact. Methinks there might be just a smidge of a generation and gender barrier there.
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Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
Didn't the DS already pass every single test to do with the older generation gaming? We've never seen a console sell to mothers more than kids before but the DS has single handedly got thousands of mothers playing Nintendogs, brain age and whatever other games they picked up.
Using the 360 to judge if the mass market is into the new gaming era is like using a people carrier to judge if people like fast cars. It makes no sense when we have something with a very clear cut answers right infront of us.
I like muppets.
You're running firefox *without* adblock? You're missing half the fun. It can block scripts as well as images...
My mom would think soap opera games are lame, but if some one came out with an "Antiques Road Show" or "Appraise It" she would buy a 360 in a heart beat. On the other hand, we do have a game like that, and you get to use real money on. We call it "E-Bay" and mom is plays that game all the time.
We are the Borg...
I'm sorry, I thought that the Wii was supposed to be the console for moms (and dads, and grandparents). It's a bit of a stretch to think that the same controller and button-combos that make hardcore gamers happy can also make a soccer-mom happy. I agree with Nintendo that the best approach is to rethink the interface, rethink the interactions, and re-engineer things to win over non-gamers. They've done OK in winning over new gamers with the DS interface and Brain Games. With the Wii, I think they can repeat their success, if they stay sharp and deliver on the things they've been saying.
Of course, a rising tide lifts all boats, so I'm sure the XBox 360 will benefit. But the 360 is not the vanguard, IMHO.
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