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Whether Prestige Titles?
Via some extended commentary on GameSetWatch, a post by Greg Costikyan on the Games*Design*Art*Culture blog on the lack of 'prestige' games in the modern game industry. By 'prestige' Costikyan means titles that may not do terribly great commercially, but that attract a lot of goodwill towards the developer and publisher. From the article: "Suppose Capcom, instead of closing Clover Studios and muttering about 'disappointing sales' had trumpetted Okami's critical success, instructed its publicists to attempt to interest both game and tech media in presentations of art from this beautiful and visually stunning game, and announced their strong support for innovation and creativity in future? They might have produced greater interest in, and sales for, the game, but more importantly, could have worked to establish for Capcom what no company other than Nintendo has in the industry today--a reputation for actually caring about gameplay. Could Ubisoft not have done the same with Beyond Good and Evil? And since Ubisoft is in direct competition in most of the cities where it has studios with EA, which has a reputation for mistreating its staff and a lack of innovation, would this not also have benefited their recruiting efforts?"
I'm not saying it is an either-or choice. I am saying that art has no gaming value unless infused with gameplay elements. So you can have the most visually beautiful thing in the world but no gamer is going to buy it if it's not really a game (or has poor gameplay)
The stream of FMV connected by repetitive random battles known as Final Fantasy says otherwise.
Rumor has it there is a game somewhere within the Metal Gear Solid series, but I don't think it's been found yet.
Hasn't stopped them from selling though...