I’ve read the posts of the last week or so and took some time to reflect on them. The world of gaming continues to evolve. I read an article in EGM that discussed the number of games for 2008 is the same as the last few years, but the number of big budget games is down. Some of these games now have movie-sized budgets, and if they flop there’s no recuperating losses from the DVD release. I’ve been watching a lot of G4 lately. Nintendo caught a lot of flack on the network for what was considered a weak showing at E3. However, the G4 audience consists of the relatively hardcore gamer. Instead, Nintendo chose to cater to the casual gamer. The casual gamer, family-based gaming, is a cashcow right now. And Nintendo is making a good financial decision.
I picked up a Nintendo Wii last month and have had more fun with the games for it than I’ve had in 10+ years. For me, the new interactivity of the Wii is as cool and exciting as the interactivity of King’s Quest in the 80s. The first person shooters and roleplaying games of the past decade have not elicited this reaction for me, although I did try many times to get into them. I guess this brings me back to the idea that games continue to evolve, and I like the way they are going right now. Back to the basic FUNdementals. Is the gaming community ready for a King’s Quest revival if Activision sells the franchise and somebody chooses to run with it? I really don’t know. But the gaming industry is more family oriented now than it ever has been. And KQ particulary has always been a very family oriented series (the old KQ5 cover comes to mind when I write this). So, the waters may be right! And if nothing happens at least we will have fan games like The Silver Lining without Vivendi pitching a fit about the development.
Take care folks,
Daniel