Sony arn't so stupid afterall

Kotaku posted a brilliant quote today made by Kaz Hirai of Sony.

A console always needs a solid core of games that appeal to gamers...If you go mainstream too quickly and don't support the core gaming audience then you lack the pillar to support your platform. Without this pillar you end up with a fickle audience that might be big but will probably move on.

So very true! This is what I have been saying for some time now, this is why Nintendo should be worried, especially with both competitors coming up with their own motion sensing inputs!

http://kotaku.com/5286512/the-smartest-playstation-executive-quote-ive-seen-in-a-long-time (hyperlinks wasn't working for some reason?)

The Cannon

Today I have spent my time revising for my Communication and Culture exam which is tomorrow. Whilst doing so I came across “The Cannon”. Now this “Cannon” is this context means something that has stood the test of time and is considered some of the best work from ages. Examples of this are Shakespeare, HG Wells etc etc. The problem with the cannon is that generally it excludes anything modern, one of the most recent entries to the list is George Orwell. Also popular culture is generally excluded, although this is somewhat contradictory as considering Shakespeare is found everywhere and “enjoyed” by so many people, I feel this is debatable. It has also been known as a form of elitism and so snobbery towards everything else.

This got me thinking, could you have a “Cannon” for videogames? Whilst it can be considered to be popular culture, and most purists would completely disregard a videogame cannon, I think it is doable. Besides these days a form of elitism is found in the videogame community between hardcore and casual gamers, so from that aspect they are similar.

Now with the cannon there is no actual order, but I think we can easily decide what the top ones will be:

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)

Grand Theft Auto IV

Half Life 2

Portal

Super Smash Bros (Brawl or Melee)

Pokémon (Silver/Gold)+(Blue/Red)

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare

Bioshock

Goldeneye

Mario Kart DS

Super Mario 64

Yes there are plenty of others that could be added, but my list is simply meant to be an example. Whilst the list does contain some great games, I have left out some really great games like No More Heroes and Mass Effect, I have done this because critically they received positive yet occasionally mixed reviews, and I am trying to create a list critically (and to a degree commercially) successful games.

The highest rated DS game ever!

Today I received an email from Rockstar (I’m on their mailing list), creators of the Grand Theft Auto series, about the recent success of their most recent game GTA: Chinatown Wars for the DS. The success being that the game is the highest rated DS game of all time! This is is according to the review aggregator Metacritic. This is by combining all the review scores from respected publishers. Meaning GTA: Chinatown Wars has an aggregate score of 94, beating Chrono Trigger by 2 points and Mario Kart DS by 4.

Does having high review scores necessarily make a game successful? Not always, whilst Mario Kart DS may have been both a critical and commercial success games like Okama (both the Wii and PS2 versions) despite receiving very positive reviews scores failing to sell well. That’s not to say it was a complete failure, but it could have done much better. Unfortunately I do not yet know the full extent of how well Chinatown Wars has sold, but I do know that it has been in the top 5 of the UK all platform video game charts.

What we know have to ask is do mature titles like GTA belong on the DS? Well considering now that a large percentage of DS owners are now adults I don’t see any problem. Plus it will help remove the still apparent image that Nintendo is for children. Why this image is still sticking I don’t know? In fact I don’t know why that has always been the case? As Nintendo games aren’t the most child like of all games, unlike the atrocious ”Imagine” series that have “Fearne and Holly“ plastered over them… I think it is more of an argument of decent games over “shovelware” by that I mean complete trash that is thrown out onto the market to make some quick easy money. Unlike games like GTA which 1000% more effort has gone into making it and the end result is so much better than any piece of “shovelware” could ever hope to be.

What is interesting about the success is that Rockstar have done it again. They now have the highest rated game on 3 of the current platforms. This is some achievement. More importantly though, it is another success for British games. As Chinatown Wars was made by Rockstar games Leeds division. Whether this will get positive attention from the UK government is another matter unfortunately.

Politics and the UK games industry

The UK was once the third largest exporter of video games in the world, it is now fifth! This is due to being overtaken by Canada, a country which is heavily supporting their flourishing industry. Whereas here in the UK the Labour party has completely abandoned such a crucial industry. Recently Game Politics has reported about increasing claims from the Conservative party that Labour have indeed led to the failing of the UK games industry. The most vocal member of the party is MP Ed Vaizey who has twice criticised the ruling party in Parliament, once directly and the other whilst praising the recent success of the UK games industry. It may seem hypercritical to start by saying how the industry is failing then mentioning it's successes, but these successes are a mere shadow of what they could be. Although the most successful game of last year both critically and commercially was Grand Theft Auto 4 which is a British game, something which the average public fail to realise. Unfortunately though Rockstar Games (the British company that made GTA IV) has a parent company 2K games, which is an American company, meaning that the majority of money that make is siphoned away from the UK to the US. Likewise another successful UK company is Lionhead Studios whose Fable 2 was very successful, but again is owned by an American company, this time being Microsoft's games division. Likewise Rare is also owned by the same company. One of the few remaining successful UK game developers is Team 17 creators of the Worms franchise. What makes the drop from third to fifth so upsetting is the fact that the UK is now the second largest consumer of video games in the world, recently overtaking Japan, a nation which many would consider the home of video games.

However I am slightly surprised as to why it has taken so long to notice. After all Labour have been in for over 10 years now and the golden age of UK game development was in its prime prior to that election. Of course what you have to remember is that the Labour party is not one that supports business, yes we can all argue about the confusion in policy that was Tony Blair, one second he was borderline Thatcherite then the next stereotypical Labour, but at the end of the day they didn’t care about small to medium size businesses. The kind which the UK games industry predominantly came under. Whereas the Conservative party understands the importance of the industry. They realise the amount of money that it brings into the UK economy, albeit an amount that is gradually falling in relative terms. As these days the UK’s export market is very small, we are a nation of importers, hence why our Balance of Payments is the way it is. Also the games industry is one like the films industry that is relatively recession proof. Figures often show that during downturns in the economy cinema viewing are up. The games industry has a very loyal following, despite the recent increase consumption by unlikely gamers such as OAP’s, woman and families as a whole, those of which could possibly retreat from spending more of their money on it when money becomes tight. But the loyal gamers (who still make up a large amount of the income of which game companies receive) will always be there meaning a constant stream of income. Something which I have now talked about quite a bit in previous entries.

With this in mind what can be done to help the games industry here in the UK? Considering the current economic climate it would be inappropriate to hand out subsidies, tax cuts on the other hand could could be a better option. Of course one simple thing is to allow more freedom such as the ability to self regulate in terms of age restriction. As the Government is strongly supporting that the BBFC rate all games instead of the industry and EU backed PEGI rating system. The PEGI system gives a much more in depth analysis of the content found within a game. Overall free market approach is beneficial for the industry, even though free market ideas aren't the most popular at present I like to think that the games industry is more unique than others.

To conclude, the games industry is an important but underrated industry here in the UK, hopefully the next election will bring in a new government and allow more benefits for this great industry.

Hopefully my next update will be sooner than this has been…

How times change…

A couple of posts ago I talked about how gaming is not as recession proof as thought, and that Japan was feeling the full effect. Well this is becoming more evident as the year goes on, and it has only just started! Already it has been announced that the games market in Japan has shrank by 13%! Soon the UK could overtake it and become the second largest games market in the world behind America! Maybe this will lead to better release dates, although to be fair Microsoft has always been very generous with its release dates, it has always been Nintendo and other Japanese firms that have penalised us, well serves them right I guess… But why has Japan suffered so bad? Well for one thing Japan is in a recession, and so people are spending less on games. But what we have to remember is that the games market in Japan has been growing significantly over the last few years, so in comparison sales are obviously much lower leading to this fall in growth. But that is mostly due to market forces and Nintendo’s aggressive casual gamer strategy. Which as I and many hardcore gamers predicted, has failed! Do I feel sorry for Nintendo? Not at all. Ask me just before the Wii came out as to whether I would care if Nintendo suffered, hell yes would be my answer. It is tragic that a company gamers have held dear for so long due to the great titles we have been receiving over the years. Only to find that as soon as they gain global mainstream success that they automatically forget about what made them good for shoddy cheap products that any moron will buy! But that is just one part of Japans failings…

Sony of course during the last generation were the clear leaders, and so were reaping the rewards. This was helped by the then undying love from Japan. But once the PS3 came out and failed to deliver, they turned their backs. But to where? Initially Nintendo took the place easily, but as they forgot about real games there was only Microsoft left. Who whilst trying hard to break into the Japanese market, are not Japanese which as the Japanese are racist towards non-Japs does not bode well for Microsoft. But this has hindered Japan just as much.

 

So what is Japan to do? Well either Nintendo remembers what made them a good company (this might happen after the reality shock of the massive failings of Wii Music, honestly who didn’t see that coming) and Sony just need to get their act together. I never thought I would actually be supporting Sony, but it’s for the good of the whole industry. But of course if the Japanese open up their eyes (no jokes here about their different shaped eyes…) and realised that Microsoft is doing a damn good job at accommodating their needs (along with ours) they will be better from it.

Gaming vs College, social life and everything else

Time: the ultimate predicament that humanity faces. We always complain we never have enough time, and the thing is, it's true. There are only so many hours in the day in which to do anything. And around 7 of them are taken up by sleep... So what else in life distracts us from our favourite hobby? Well for the vast majority of us, when we aren’t sleeping, it is most likely work/college/school. Essentially what determines us as an individual in the 21st century, depressing as it is. Since starting 2nd year of college I have found I have had even less time to devote to gaming, mostly due to increased amount of essays and revision to do at home. But how to compensate? Well one way is, handheld gaming to the rescue. Before I would simply say go get a DS, but I expect most of you already do... But if you're one of the few people that is different (and I now respect you, ask me a few months ago and I would spit in your face... How times change) it doesn't matter. A handheld is a handheld at the end of the day. Except the iPhone, as that can as of typing can not call itself a serious contender, considering Kotaku's recent review of Katamari Damacy on the iPhone, in which they commented on how broken it is. Come on people stop bringing out once credible games and butchering them on "popular" hardware. Oh wait, this isn't a new phenomenon at all, it's been happening for years on Nintendo's consoles now... And that’s on top of the pitiful money grapping trash released for mindless idiots, such as Gordon Ramsey’s Hells Kitchen... Why, who the hell wants this? Us gamers have been asking for a true sequel to Star Fox 64 Lylat Wars for us Europeans) for f'ing years now, but instead we get bloody Gordon f'ing Ramsey who cheated on his wife and can't stop swearing (yes I am aware of the hypocrisy, but that’s the point!).

Oh yes I was talking about time constraints... Stupid Gordon Ramsey and his stupid games that wouldn't even make a decent fire... Anyway, handheld gaming, a great way to get in some gaming whilst on the go. Simply logic really. And if you have a friend, preferably one with the same console, then it is so much better. For example, 2 DS's, one cart (or 2, doesn't really matter thanks to download play) of say Mario Kart DS and your set, journey’s will go much quicker.

But what about those precious few hours at home. Well there are two choices:

1. Get a good FPS like Halo 3, CoD4, CoD World at War, Battlefied Bad Company or Team Fortress 2. Get the single player done in a free weekend (with exception to TF2) and then during your free time during the week you can play some good multiplayer games. A great way to get in some raw gaming, with the ability to quickly stop if you know you have an essay or paperwork to do.

2. Get a game with a save anytime feature. These are more common on PC games, but are becoming more prevalent on 360 games now. Such as Half Life 2 (along with it's expansions, all of which you can get with The Orange Box), Far Cry 2, Oblivion and Fallout 3. What is great about these games is that they are epic games, and have a good amount of play time, often over 15 hours. But whilst you may be thinking, "I don't have time for that", well you do, you just need to spread it out, and with these games it is easier to do so, as this is the case with me and Fallout 3. I have had it since launch, which was well over a month ago. I'm 30 hours in, only half way if that, but due to it's brilliant save system, I can start were I left off easily, which makes it much easier to play when I want to.

So to conclude, despite getting a bit distracted, I hope my 2 (well 3) points can help you get in some more gaming when time is scarce. I know it has been a while, but that’s another thing that suffers due to lack of time. Poor blogs... More soon, besides, it will be Christmas! And of course Winter-een-mas the celebration of gaming.

Gaming isn't as recession proof as thought...

Today whilst reading The Times I found an interesting article about the state of gaming in Japan. The country as a whole has recently entered a recession and so game sales has decreased at a similar rate. In Japan Nintendo is currently experiencing the biggest drop (that is a drop of recent sales in comparison to before). Now there are two reasons for this.

1. Most of Japan owns a DS! And/or a Wii
2. When money becomes tighter casual gamers stop buying games pretty quickly.

And yes I have returned to the issue that casual gamers are bad... However, I don't blame the casual gamers for this, or the possibly implications it brings to Nintendo world wide. It is Nintendo themselves. This is because they have focused far too much on the casual market. Sure when the global economy was "just super" everyone went out and bought the "cool and hip" Nintendo products. But causal gamers have a sell by point what ever the state of the economy is. After all after buying a console/handheld most casual gamers will only buy a few games for it over that game cycle. And now it's just become a whole lot worse.

But there were many who claimed that gaming was recession proof, and on the whole I would agree with them. As gamers wont cut back so much on their consumption of games when money is tighter. This is because gaming is a much bigger part of their lives and so will continue to enjoy their hobby. And it is this reason why Microsoft is in a very safe position. As currently they are doing the best job at satisfying the gamers and also throwing some stuff out there for the decreasing casual market along with the now much cheaper console. If they pick up a few casual gamers by using games such as Rock band, Guitar Hero and Lips with the price of the console an additional perk then they can sleep happy. But even if that isn't a huge success they can still fall back on the gamers. And will they resent Microsoft for doing so? No! Because Microsoft have treated gamers well. Heck even Sony could stand to do relatively well. After all sales of the PSP are still rising in Japan. Despite sales of the PS3 being abysmal can still feel safe in the knowledge that it will always have support from the always loyal Sony fanboys.

Nintendo on the other hand in their strive to get as many casual gamers as they can have alienated its once die hard fan base and so when the casual market dries away the gamers wont be there. And they will have to work damn hard to get them back.

But I feel that this can be a great thing for the true games of the industry. As if gamers become the true target audience once again (like they should be) then core games will become better than ever as they will be putting even more effort into making great games, as they know it will be the best way for them to continue making money!