azrael p.o.s.
Member
After this swarm of huge 'news' breaking on GAF this week, I figure it'll probably be a pretty slow weekend so I decided to post something that's been lingering on my desktop for quite a while. This isn't anything close to the most comprehensive analysis on the subject or like that, but I feel it can put some perspective of where we're at and how we've been getting there so here goes:
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One company has bread a generation of new online gamers. The other has tended to carry a much more conservative definition of networking. For the past decade, the gaming world has consistently shuttered before the first, while the other has only recently been able to bring hope to the die-hard fans that were hooked after their first game of Punch Out!!.
Despite some superficial yet seemingly major differences, Blizzard and Nintendo have maintained a philosophical approach to game development with a greater amount of similarities than many may realize from initial impressions.
With the recent, astonishing success of Blizzards take on the MMORPG genre and the unprecedented sales numbers of Nintendos DS Lite and more recently, the Wii, it seems worthwhile to take a step back and look at a one of the many design decisions arguably driving one of the most important phenomena in the gaming industry.
Finding Nemo Again
Even as I sit on an airplane headed to San Francisco, I can spot at least three fellow travelers enjoying their DS Lite. And thats only from the walk from my seat to the lavatory (fancy airplane term for crapper)!
So what exactly do these two industry giants have in common? The most obvious answer is the medium through which they present their entertainment video games. Whether it is on your computer or a console, the focus of both companies is to sell a form of interactive entertainment.
The basic implication of this similarity is that both must overcome a huge hurdle that is inherent to much of the hi-tech electronics market, something often times referred to as buyers stigma.
In the Western world, a powerful bias against video games has been going strong since the time of your fathers Pac Man arcade. Gamers have been said to smell bad, lack knowledge of how to use a shaving blade, and put on so many pounds that they cant fit through their living room door.
In order to reach a broader market, both companies have adopted very interesting strategies to deal with these issues as well as others, gaining a giant share of their respective markets.
Just as Pixars hit animation was very marketable through a broad appeal to both an adult and child audience, our two gaming companies have recently relied on the same fundamental concept to drive sales of their products in a highly competitive marketplace.
World of Blizzard
In late November of 2004 we saw the critically acclaimed release of one of the most anticipated games across any genre or platform World of Warcraft. Certainly, much of the hype for Warcraft was drawn both from long time fans of the series and those simply looking for what appeared to be a very fresh, different experience from current offerings at the time.
However, what may have been lost in the shuffle was Blizzards often-mentioned strategy of building a game that can be fun for everyone, despite the amount of time somebody was able to commit to sitting in front of their monitors.
Between a character advancement system which initially encouraged players to log-off for at least a few hours a day for double experience, the virtual lack of downtime for activities that could take ages in other games, and relative ease of acquiring the maximum level it becomes very clear that WoW was designed with an expanded audience in mind:
Browsing through the first three reviews that come to mind, the easing of typical traits exhibited by other MMORPGs have a great impact on even seasoned players:
Tom McNamara IGN Review 9.1
Allen Rausch GameSpy Review 5/5 Stars
1UP Review 8.9
Nintendoes, Too
Even without observing Shigeru Miyamotos keynote at Marchs Gamers Day Convention, its not too difficult to really see where Nintendo has been headed since its entry into the home console market.
Briefly glancing over the trajectory of Nintendos first party developers, it becomes very apparent that many of the companys best-selling intellectual properties have been designed with at least two play styles in mind.
Those for the casual gamer and those for the core you know, those of us that dont shower, eat, or go to work while waiting for a video game to come out.
Take Kirbys Adventure, which spiraled into one of the most popular Nintendo franchises amongst its core fan base. While it may be true that there were no hard or easy modes, the idea of broadening the playing field was expressed in a subtle yet different manner than were used to seeing.
You could play through Kirbys Adventure in three or four hours without too much trouble. But those who wanted scratch that needed more of a fix of our favorite pink puffball would quickly realize that their game was not 100 percent complete. There were shortcuts, hidden rooms, and items that only a dedicated gamer could attain without having a walkthrough sitting next to their ash tray.
Fast forward to today and this philosophy of integrated difficulty can still readily be found in even the simplest of titles. Anybody can enjoy Wii Sports and maybe put it down after ten or fifteen minutes, yet still feel some sense of accomplishment.
However, for those like me, it was absolutely necessary to max my Miis player score and get all of the platinum medals, in all of the events. Even the exercise option has become a game in itself for many gamers trying desperately to best their high score from the previous day. And thats just Wii Sports!
Okay, Captain Obvious, Wii Sports has obviously been marketed as a mass appeal kind-of-game from the very beginning; snooze-fest! Well, in fact, something very similar can be found across varying genres.
One particular franchise comes to mind immediately, Pokemon. Recently, I walked into my five year old nephews room only to find some very nice looking Pokemon bed sheets crumpled up on his floor.
This not only tells me that his organizational habits take after his uncle, it also demonstrates that a single product can entrap the minds of a hardcore, twenty-something year old gamer for months is ultimately simple enough at its core to still be enjoyable to a child.
You can play Pokemon for a couple of months and simply enjoy it at the most basic aesthetic level, grind through the game as fast as possible while trying to appreciate the storyline, spend countless hours trying to find as many Pokemon as possible or even turn on that Wi-Fi connection and take your friends to school with a mean team of Pichus.
Again, its easy to simply dismiss Pokemon as a game designed to be a franchise that carries massive appeal to primarily younger crowds. While I wouldnt necessary agree with this conclusion, I think that its not difficult to find a similar design pattern in much of the Legend of Zelda series and to a lesser extent the Metroid games, neither of which are exclusively marketed towards the casual gamer.
Point is: integrated difficulty allows players to take a game as far as they want to and hence can appeal to a broader audience both in terms of both core and casual gamers alike.
--------------------------------------
One company has bread a generation of new online gamers. The other has tended to carry a much more conservative definition of networking. For the past decade, the gaming world has consistently shuttered before the first, while the other has only recently been able to bring hope to the die-hard fans that were hooked after their first game of Punch Out!!.
Despite some superficial yet seemingly major differences, Blizzard and Nintendo have maintained a philosophical approach to game development with a greater amount of similarities than many may realize from initial impressions.
With the recent, astonishing success of Blizzards take on the MMORPG genre and the unprecedented sales numbers of Nintendos DS Lite and more recently, the Wii, it seems worthwhile to take a step back and look at a one of the many design decisions arguably driving one of the most important phenomena in the gaming industry.
Finding Nemo Again
Even as I sit on an airplane headed to San Francisco, I can spot at least three fellow travelers enjoying their DS Lite. And thats only from the walk from my seat to the lavatory (fancy airplane term for crapper)!
So what exactly do these two industry giants have in common? The most obvious answer is the medium through which they present their entertainment video games. Whether it is on your computer or a console, the focus of both companies is to sell a form of interactive entertainment.
The basic implication of this similarity is that both must overcome a huge hurdle that is inherent to much of the hi-tech electronics market, something often times referred to as buyers stigma.
In the Western world, a powerful bias against video games has been going strong since the time of your fathers Pac Man arcade. Gamers have been said to smell bad, lack knowledge of how to use a shaving blade, and put on so many pounds that they cant fit through their living room door.
In order to reach a broader market, both companies have adopted very interesting strategies to deal with these issues as well as others, gaining a giant share of their respective markets.
Just as Pixars hit animation was very marketable through a broad appeal to both an adult and child audience, our two gaming companies have recently relied on the same fundamental concept to drive sales of their products in a highly competitive marketplace.
World of Blizzard
In late November of 2004 we saw the critically acclaimed release of one of the most anticipated games across any genre or platform World of Warcraft. Certainly, much of the hype for Warcraft was drawn both from long time fans of the series and those simply looking for what appeared to be a very fresh, different experience from current offerings at the time.
However, what may have been lost in the shuffle was Blizzards often-mentioned strategy of building a game that can be fun for everyone, despite the amount of time somebody was able to commit to sitting in front of their monitors.
Between a character advancement system which initially encouraged players to log-off for at least a few hours a day for double experience, the virtual lack of downtime for activities that could take ages in other games, and relative ease of acquiring the maximum level it becomes very clear that WoW was designed with an expanded audience in mind:
Browsing through the first three reviews that come to mind, the easing of typical traits exhibited by other MMORPGs have a great impact on even seasoned players:
Tom McNamara IGN Review 9.1
Allen Rausch GameSpy Review 5/5 Stars
1UP Review 8.9
Nintendoes, Too
Even without observing Shigeru Miyamotos keynote at Marchs Gamers Day Convention, its not too difficult to really see where Nintendo has been headed since its entry into the home console market.
Briefly glancing over the trajectory of Nintendos first party developers, it becomes very apparent that many of the companys best-selling intellectual properties have been designed with at least two play styles in mind.
Those for the casual gamer and those for the core you know, those of us that dont shower, eat, or go to work while waiting for a video game to come out.
Take Kirbys Adventure, which spiraled into one of the most popular Nintendo franchises amongst its core fan base. While it may be true that there were no hard or easy modes, the idea of broadening the playing field was expressed in a subtle yet different manner than were used to seeing.
You could play through Kirbys Adventure in three or four hours without too much trouble. But those who wanted scratch that needed more of a fix of our favorite pink puffball would quickly realize that their game was not 100 percent complete. There were shortcuts, hidden rooms, and items that only a dedicated gamer could attain without having a walkthrough sitting next to their ash tray.
Fast forward to today and this philosophy of integrated difficulty can still readily be found in even the simplest of titles. Anybody can enjoy Wii Sports and maybe put it down after ten or fifteen minutes, yet still feel some sense of accomplishment.
However, for those like me, it was absolutely necessary to max my Miis player score and get all of the platinum medals, in all of the events. Even the exercise option has become a game in itself for many gamers trying desperately to best their high score from the previous day. And thats just Wii Sports!
Okay, Captain Obvious, Wii Sports has obviously been marketed as a mass appeal kind-of-game from the very beginning; snooze-fest! Well, in fact, something very similar can be found across varying genres.
One particular franchise comes to mind immediately, Pokemon. Recently, I walked into my five year old nephews room only to find some very nice looking Pokemon bed sheets crumpled up on his floor.
This not only tells me that his organizational habits take after his uncle, it also demonstrates that a single product can entrap the minds of a hardcore, twenty-something year old gamer for months is ultimately simple enough at its core to still be enjoyable to a child.
You can play Pokemon for a couple of months and simply enjoy it at the most basic aesthetic level, grind through the game as fast as possible while trying to appreciate the storyline, spend countless hours trying to find as many Pokemon as possible or even turn on that Wi-Fi connection and take your friends to school with a mean team of Pichus.
Again, its easy to simply dismiss Pokemon as a game designed to be a franchise that carries massive appeal to primarily younger crowds. While I wouldnt necessary agree with this conclusion, I think that its not difficult to find a similar design pattern in much of the Legend of Zelda series and to a lesser extent the Metroid games, neither of which are exclusively marketed towards the casual gamer.
Point is: integrated difficulty allows players to take a game as far as they want to and hence can appeal to a broader audience both in terms of both core and casual gamers alike.
