The Future of Gaming....

Then there are the games which aren’t of a licence but use a controversial manner to sell well, this all very good and well, they, after all are only trying to make their way in the industry but when the gameplay factor comes into it, they never seem to be bothered to test it, make it fun, polish off the graphics and to try balance the gameplay and get a variety of modes. The culprits of this are Acclaim, they’ve done many stupid things in the past. Mainly in BMX XXX with its prostitutes riding BMXs. Not really the type of appropriate style of game for the younger half of the industry but fair enough, it will appeal to the elder half. The sadder part is not that they have to use the controversy to shift copies of it but the fact that they’re too lazy to make anything of the game. There are sadly not many good controversial games; even the highly acclaimed GTA falls down to bad gameplay.

Then there are games that try to add different styles to sell well, Cell Damage being a big culprit. The gameplay whilst being fast gives you no feeling of control, as for the cell shading; well they just used it as a stupid gimmick. Having said that there is a better game which includes cell shading, that being The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker, it utilises the graphical effect in the best way possible using it for a totally new type of lighting effects and makes the game somewhat look more emotional by giving Link brilliant expressions that really show what’s going on.

People are beginning to become sick of rubbish games, which just use the licence to sell regardless of gameplay and so on. And why
not be, the gaming industry should be aiming for higher standards. Gaming should be fun, games like Cell Damage and BMX XXX and many others don’t provide this as well as they should do, so, surely this can’t be the way forward. What Nintendo and many other developers need to do is to instead of just expecting sales to come, and they will eventually drop is to raise the bar. Go one better, the developers need to be innovative and provide something different. It is not game over for Nintendo but in 2 or 3 console generations, it certainly could be if they don’t change. To say that they will have to pull out is stupid, the Gamecube is not doing anywhere near as bad as the Dreamcast was and Nintendo are making massive amounts from the sales of their games. Nintendo will continue for a long while yet. Nintendo have done this recently with the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker which has influenced many other developers to use Cell Shading in different ways, next year Ubi Soft are releasing a Cell Shaded First Person Shooter named XIII. SEGA and AV brought a whole new genre of gaming in Super Monkey Ball. Simple, retro like gameplay providing for addictive fun.

Remember playing Tetris, Pong or Pacman for the first time? Its that kind of difference that developers need today. This is what Nintendo need to do, but they need to implement it in a way that can appeal more to casual gamers, what do they need to do different then?

Well releasing the Gamecube in purple was a bad idea for a start; maybe black or blue would have been better. Using Cell shading is all good and well but do casual gamers want it? I think we all know the answer to that. And maybe they should start to concentrate on bringing new games to the Gameboy Advance instead of dishing out tonnes or remakes. The Gameboy range cannot last forever, neither can SNES, n64 and GC remakes either, eventually people will get sick and tired and will want something new. Innovation is the way forward for Microsoft and SONY. The way forward for Nintendo is to make a compromise and change their ways so that they appeal to everybody.