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Microsoft 'Refocusing on Fun', Alien Hominid Comes to XBLA
C&VG offers up some news on Microsoft's next-gen games platform today. Most interesting are comments from Peter Moore indicating the company will be refocusing on fun, inspired by the financial and mass-market success of Nintendo's Wii. Says Moore "From a first-party point of view, it's not just about E-rated games, it's going to be about the experience that, quite frankly, Nintendo has done a tremendous job in capturing, in bringing back fun - if you will - to the gaming platforms." He's quick to point out that this is something they've had on the back burner for some time, and they intend to aim for 'experiential' games. The article wonders out loud, questioning whether this means Microsoft is planning to roll out a motion-sensing controller, or just more E and T rated games? Additionally, CVG points out that this week's Xbox Live Arcade release is The Behemoth's Alien Hominid . It's a tremendous side-scrolling 2d shooter, and well worth checking out.
I'm going to go out on a wild-limb and assume that what Microsoft means is they're re-allocating their development money and focusing on less graphically intensive games. As a (rough) estimate Halo 3 will probably end up costing Microsoft $20 Million to develop, this means that they could probably develop 5 to 20 simple 'fun' games for the same cost as one big budget game. From a business perspective this makes a lot of sense because the risk per game is much smaller and you're far more likely to find a couple of games that really connect with consumers when you develop 20 games rather than 1.
while introducing their own tri-axis sensor controller as the "Xmote" or something.
They'll call it Microsoft Sidewinder Freestyle Pro.
Justice is the sheep getting arrested while an impartial judge declares the vote void.
My problem with this is that the industry usually defines fun as party games or mini games. There's this delusion that for a game to be fun, it must be simple. A game can be both fun and deep. It's not an either/or situation. What's more, people assume that there is no value in a game that is not "fun". I would not qualify games like World of Warcraft, Shadow of the Colossus, and Oblivion as "fun". However, there is value in the kind of experience they offer. Think of the film industry as an analogy. A movie can be fun and still be deeper than your typical Will Farrel comedy. Likewise, movies like Schindler's List and Hotel Rwanda are not fun in any way. That does not make them bad movies or the experience they offer worthless.
Alien Hominid will be my first XBLA purchase since getting my 360 about 5 weeks ago. My flatmate bought Geometry Wars, which is very good, but I can see myself downloading a lot more games through the service in the coming weeks and months. C:SotN, Castle Crashers (the new 4-player co-op game by the Alien Hominid team), Worms HD (Worms + Xbox Live = instant fun). I heard even one of the original TMNT games is coming the Arcade, which I may well pick up for a fair price.
Wasn't the one of the more advertised facts about Xbox Live Arcade was that developers could make experimental games at little/no risk? (Remember Geometry Wars?)