It has occurred to the staff at GameCritics.com that it is not enough to develop new ways for analyzing videogames within the context of a review. Rather, it is equally important to talk about farther-reaching issues concerning videogames in other forums, especially in a time when they are still largely perceived as children's toys and scapegoated for many of society's ills. If videogames are to evolve and be recognized as a culture and art form, it is important that we be able to talk about how videogames interact within the structure of society at large. This editorial column is devoted to going beyond the current tunnel vision that exists and discussing videogames in a variety of wider contexts.

Do Consumers Really Want Original Game Content?

Feature By

Dale Weir

I was perusing Tokyopia.com a while back and came across two interesting articles. For those of you that don't know what Tokyopia.com is, it is a web site that focuses on the Japanese side of the games industry. It was founded by, among others, John Ricciardi

Rez (PS2) (top), The Mark Of Kri (PS2) (bottom)

(of Electronic Gaming Monthly fame) and Andrew Vestal (founder of the now defunct Gaming Intelligence Agency). The two articles that caught my eye were "What's Wrong with the Japanese Games Industry: The Programmer's View" and "What's Wrong with the Japanese Games Industry: The Artist's View." As their titles imply, the articles focused on how the Japanese industry that bore the videogame renaissance of the mid 1980s, could be so stagnated creatively today.

At first I wasn't particularly convinced as far as the validity of the authors' arguments were concerned—especially when one of the writers took a shot at EAD (Nintendo) and hailed Halo and Grand Theft Auto III as shining examples of where the videogame industry needs to be heading.

It was only a few hours after reading these articles that I was over at Chi's place and saw Rez (Sega's PlayStation 2 shooter and one of the games mentioned in the articles) in action for the first time. After some discussion about the game, we recalled some of the problems that United Game Artists (the development teams at Sega responsible for Rez) had in getting Rez made and marketed. After giving it some thought, I can't help but think the writers of the Tokyopia articles had a valid point, although I believe the blame may have been misplaced. For one thing, the stagnation is not an affliction affecting only the Japanese market because it can certainly be seen here in the United States and over in Europe. And secondly, it is not solely a problem of developers lacking the means or resolve to create new content or breaking out of today's gaming conventions.

Cubivore (GCN) (left), Custom Robo (GCN) (right)

You don't have to look very hard to see that game developers (Japanese, American or European) can indeed make original games. Nintendo's Animal Crossing, Pikmin, Cubivore, Custom Robo, and Doshin The Giant; Sony's ICO and The Mark Of Kri, Sega's Rez and Activision's Way Of The Samurai are just a few such examples that have been released in the last few years. They were and are heralded as creatively unique oases in a sea of conformity. Who can forget the stir that Sega caused years back when it revealed four groundbreaking titles games for its ailing Dreamcast console: Seaman, Space Channel 5, Jet Grind Radio and Samba De Amigo? These titles were inimitable, stylish and practically imbued with the creative souls of their creators; they had many in the press

Animal Crossing (GCN) (top), ICO (PS2) (bottom)

and the game community heralding them as evidence of what was possible when the reigns were taken off developers. Unfortunately, we all know the ultimate fate of the Dreamcast, but that hardly put an end to the stream of unique releases from those developers.

Today we look forward to Nintendo's Giftpia and Capcom's Killer 7 and Viewtiful Joe, Agetec's RPG Maker 2, Magic Pengel: The Quest For Color and Llamasoft Games' Unity—not to mention the suite of titles that come with Sony's quirky Eye Toy peripheral. If I had more time, I'm sure I could name many more current and future releases that similarly escape classification and turn normal gaming conventions on their ear. However, if history is any indicator I am quite certain that with the rare exceptions, these games would receive an abundance of critical acclaim only to be virtually ignored by the general gaming public.

Is it a matter of simply not knowing that these games existed? Perhaps. I remember that soon after ICO's release a few game sites proclaimed it one of "the best games you are not playing"—yet neglected to mention that could have been because they spent the previous twelve months hyping Final Fantasy X, Grand Theft Auto III and Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons Of Liberty. Still, blaming the press doesn't get us anywhere because though not on the level we would like, these titles do get decent coverage.