A few days ago I posted the first part of my interview with CaptainD. The idea was to get a reviewer, who sees a lot of video games, to talk about the video game industry and comment on certain points. Here is the conclusion to the interview with CaptainD who has a number of blogs.
What is your favourtite trend in gaming at the moment?Ah, finally an easy one... well, two actually. Firstly the re-emergence of small indie developers as a major force in the gaming scene , and TellTale Games plus a few other companies leading the rebirth of the point and click adventure genre.
What is your least favourite trend in gaming at the moment?
I don't feel that the obsession of having long series of games is going to be a good thing in the long run. Also I find the trend of games becoming more and more grisly in their portrayal of violence rather disturbing - though not as disturbing as the people who seem to enjoy games purely for their gore factor. PC games are becoming increasingly scarce in retail outlets, though the emergence of digital distribution as a genuine force largely compensates for this.
I also think that the cost of new games is a bit ridiculous, though since you can usually sell back console games for a reasonable(ish) price, it's not as big an issue as it might have been.
I don't feel that the obsession of having long series of games is going to be a good thing in the long run. Also I find the trend of games becoming more and more grisly in their portrayal of violence rather disturbing - though not as disturbing as the people who seem to enjoy games purely for their gore factor. PC games are becoming increasingly scarce in retail outlets, though the emergence of digital distribution as a genuine force largely compensates for this.
I also think that the cost of new games is a bit ridiculous, though since you can usually sell back console games for a reasonable(ish) price, it's not as big an issue as it might have been.
What is the game you'd most like to see made into a movie? Why?I'd quite like to see a Broken Sword movie as the first one particularly had such a great storyline. Beyond good and Evil could make a great film too with the right director - possibly Guillermo Del Toro as it's such a surreal world. Having a movie of the Worms series could be a lot of fun too!
What is the movie you'd most like to see made into a game? Why?
I'm not sure if it's ever been done, but I'd love to see a game based on a Mel Brooks movie. Young Frankenstein / Blazing Saddles / High Anxiety / Spaceballs / Men in Tights could be seriously funny and enjoyable games, if done properly. I love the movie Stardust, and I don't think there was a game based on it - there's so much in that film that could be turned into a great game. Oh, and was there ever a game based on The Princess Bride? You'd have to be able to play good or evil in that one, of course! :-D
What are the game/games you are most looking forward to? Why?
It's a long way off, but when they make the movie TRON 2, I'm sure the game version is going to be awesome. I mean, if anything was meant to be a good game, it's a game based on a movie based on being sucked into a computer game. I think LEGO Harry Potter's on the way and judging by the quality of the previous LEGO games, that should be great fun too. Since I already have about 10 games in my "to play and review" pile and I keep getting sent new games to review by commercial or indie developers, I guess it'll be a while before I actually buy another game though!
What is your opinion of the video games industry at the moment, its strengths and weaknesses?
As a whole, I think the main strength across the whole industry has been the ability not only to entertain, but give people the ability to become someone else - someone they see as more interesting than themselves! Video games, when good, are still among the most cost-effective ways of buying entertainment - whereas a book might be read once, a movie watched a couple of times, games are designed to be played again and again. There's an amazing variety available if you know where to look.
The main weakness comes from the lack of effort put into many titles - a good example of this is the many rather pointless WII games that have put many people off the system as a whole, despite the fact that it's a pretty good console when the games are properly developed. Too many big companies go in for the quick buck either with a mundane movie tie-in or yet another game in a series which is almost exactly the same as all the previous games with different graphics. The gaming industry has also received some bad press - justifiably sometimes - for the extreme violence in certain games. This sort of thing tends to tarnish the whole industry though it also, worryingly, tends to increase the sale of the game in question.
The main weakness comes from the lack of effort put into many titles - a good example of this is the many rather pointless WII games that have put many people off the system as a whole, despite the fact that it's a pretty good console when the games are properly developed. Too many big companies go in for the quick buck either with a mundane movie tie-in or yet another game in a series which is almost exactly the same as all the previous games with different graphics. The gaming industry has also received some bad press - justifiably sometimes - for the extreme violence in certain games. This sort of thing tends to tarnish the whole industry though it also, worryingly, tends to increase the sale of the game in question.
What do you think the future holds for the video games industry?
One thing that seems certain to be introduced at some point is virtual reality... but whether this will really be the next big thing in video gaming is debatable. At the moment, apart from the WII which has received mixed reactions, most innovations tend to be simply an improvement on what has already existed. The PC market is particularly difficult to predict as there are so many individual specifications. The key thing is going to be expense - the high cost of the PS3 undoubtedly hurt that console's sales, especially in the first year. If someone can bring out a product that's genuinely innovative but not greatly costly, it might just storm the market... but convincing the majority of people that they need something in addition to their existing consoles / computers might not be possible in the short-term. The market as a whole will continue to grow, particularly if the analysts who predict continuing financial woes in the next decade are right - after all video game sales have actually increased during the recession. People might want to escape the real world more - so video games, whether single-player, multiplayer or just plain weird (I'm talking My Second Life here) will be the reality that people want to immerse themselves in more and more. One final thought - it will be interesting to see if Windows 7 has as many (or more) compatibility problems with older games as Vista has. That could cause PCs to lose even more ground to consoles.So there it is, the conclusion to my interview with CaptainD. Hopefully I'll be able to interview some other reviewers soon and maybe even some people from game companies. If there are any reviewers out there reading this who want to get interviewed leave a comment and we'll sort something out.
3 comments
Honestly folks, don't do it... being interviewed is a distressing and traumatic experience...
Troy - thanks for thinking that I'm worth interviewing!
Posted on September 4, 2009 at 1:31 AM
CaptainD was driven a bit up the wall here, but he emereged with a good answer for every question. :)
Anyway, I'd be happy to be interviewed if anyone so desires. I'm a reviewer for Adventure Classic Gaming, my blog A Hardy Developer's Journal, and, as of recent, I'm also an indie game designer.
Posted on September 7, 2009 at 9:18 AM
Hey Hardydev thanks for the comment, if you wouldn't mind I'd like to do an interview with you as well. If you comment back with your email address i can send you some questions, cheers troy
Posted on September 7, 2009 at 10:26 AM
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