Console Cycles: Games are the Key

During the Nintendo Q3 financial results conference, Nintendo CEO Satoru Iwata (pictured right) stated that a four-year life cycle for their consoles is "too inflexible," and that they will not be coming out with a new console until they need one. "We long for a new weapon whenever we cry that we cannot fight anymore with the current weapons. But today’s situation is such that we are not desperate for any new weapons at all." Basically, he's saying that a new Nintendo console will not be released until they have exhausted the current ones.

I for one think this may be a good idea, both for developers and for my wallet. With longer cycles, developers will really be able to concentrate on one system without having too worry too much and split their attentions. I found two posts that talked about the statement from Nintendo and posted my opinions about it, they are close to the same, but they differ slightly to what the posts are about. The two articles I posted on were called, "Iwata: 4-year Console Cycle 'Too Inflexible,'" and "Nintendo Dismiss four year console cycle." Both of my comments can be seen at the posts themselves as well as below.

Iwata: 4-year Console Cycle 'Too Inflexible'
Comment:
I think that Iwata has the beginnings of the right idea. I think that console life depends more on the games that are out than the hardware that is used. One of the most long lived and highest selling systems is the PlayStation 2. The PS2 had some of the best games ever created. Even now, people still play their PS2's more than some of their newer systems, and it is still one of the highest selling systems even now. The console has been around for about 8 years, and even if they did not have the PS3, I think Sony could still be doing very well in the market. If the right games are made, Nintendo might not have to make new console in 4 years, but ten years is a very long time. I think he might be too optimistic on that one.

In the post you stated, "Everyone knows Wii is significantly less powerful than its competitors." While that is true for sure, it does not seem like that is the most important factor when tracing console life. As I stated before, the PS2 is a lot less powerful than the next-gen consoles, but is still holding its own. The fact that the Wii was released less powerful while the PS2 was an equal when it was released may make a huge difference though.

I'm excited to see what happens!

Nintendo Dismiss four year console cycle
Comment:
I think Nintendo has the right idea. They do not need to plan out a new system, when they have barely tapped into the potential of their existing one. That statement goes for both the DS and the Wii. Also, as a gamer, I enjoy buying systems every 8 to 10 years rather than 4 to 5. So the longer a system is out, the more convenient it is for me.

Also, I do not think that consoles are the main point here. It’s all about the games. Sure some games look and feel better on newer consoles, but at this point, probably any kind of game could be made on the existing consoles, unless some new kind of peripheral were needed. However, I think that kind of thing is a long way off.

You stated that Iwata is not, “dismissing the prospect of new systems entirely,” which means that obviously new systems are being thought of, just not imminently. I also think this is the right approach as I do not think it is possible to exhaust all of the possibilities of these new systems in 4 years. Letting the systems go for a longer time allows developers to really invest themselves in a console and make really good games for it, which will, in turn, lengthen the life of the console. Some people may be disappointed to hear this, but I am not so broken up about it. Actually, I am excited to see what happens because of this.

The Indie Games Movement: Developers Make a Comeback

Independent games are becoming more popular than ever. According to Andy Schatz of Pocketwatch, “Indie visionaries have single-handedly created the casual game genre, brought back long-dormant genres such as the strategy, adventure, and puzzle games, and have created entirely new concepts within gaming.” Now with companies like GarageGames, it has become even easier for independent developers to release their games to the public. GarageGames president, Mark Frohnmayer, says that independent games now represent about $1 billion in annual sales. GarageGames is a company that creates game engines that independent developers can purchase for a nominal fee to create their games. They create engines like Torque Game Builder, Torque 3D and Torque X which is said to be a development tool for the Xbox Live Arcade. Developers can buy the Torque Engine for $100 per programmer, and can create a game with almost no other overhead. Although many Independent games are not very good, they push the boundaries of game design and can also be quite well designed too.

With Indie games being easier and cheaper to make, they are making a big splash into the mainstream audience. Quite a few Indie games have gotten a lot of press and been put onto consoles like the Xbox 360 Live Arcade and the PS3. Some games of note are fl0w and fl0wer as well as Everyday Shooter. GameDailyBiz states that these games have become such a big deal in the development world that at IndieGamesCon Greg Canessa, Group Manager of Xbox Casual Games, stated that he would like to see Microsoft's next-gen console become a kind of home for indie development.

Another exciting thing going on because of the Indie games movement is that while many major developers are creating franchises and we are seeing reiterations and re-releases of older games, indie developers are giving us new and innovative games that really push the boundaries and bring back old game genres, such as top down shooters, while implementing them in new ways. Indie developers are willing to take more risks than major developers, and it shows in the variety in their game design. Derek Yu from Bit-Blot thinks that, “For the mainstream industry, everything goes in one direction: bigger, shinier, 3D-ier. Indie games go in every direction, and it's exciting as hell.”

What is also very exciting is that when an indie game makes it big with a new mechanic or innovation, it influences the mainstream developers, and we start to see new mechanics in mainstream games. Independent games introduce new mechanics for mainstream developers. “The industry benefits through the introduction and testing of novel ideas & techniques that can be used to enhance larger games. Larger studios are often responsible for technical innovation, but it's independent studios that push the boundaries of creative innovation,” says Thomas Arundel from Darwinia.

Indie games are also usually smaller, casual games that make it much easier to distribute them. This opens the market up to anyone who has a computer and the Internet. Independent games are not hardware dependent and thus allow anyone to play the independent games easily. With the ability now to play games on the web or get digital downloads, on computers or consoles, the independent game market is of an almost infinite size for developers. Independent games are a new movement in video game culture that will not be going away anytime soon. They will, and already have been, influencing mainstream developers and creating big names for themselves and receiving a lot of press. All in all it is an exciting time for game developers, especially indie developers.

Nintendo Surgeons: Video Games Help Surgeons to Be More Precise

It seems that playing video games can help surgeons to be more precise and make less mistakes in certain kinds of surgery. "I use the same hand-eye coordination to play video games as I use for surgery," Dr. James "Butch" Rosser from Beth Israel Medical Center told USA Today. Studies show that playing video games actually does have an effect on a surgeon’s performance in the operating room. Reuters Life! states that those surgeons who played video games, specifically a Nintendo Gamecube game called Super Monkey Ball, three hours a week made 37 percent fewer errors and accomplished tasks 27 percent faster, while also scoring 42 percent higher on the skills tests. These statistics were made using 33 surgeons doing surgical skills tests in laparoscopic surgery.

Wired records Rosser as saying "Traditional academic surgeons look at what I do and thumb their noses," at the first Video Game/Entertainment Industry Technology and Medicine Conference. Even though previous research has stated that, "fine motor skills, eye-hand coordination, visual attention, depth perception and computer competency,” are affected. Few academics are willing to share in Rosser’s view of video games as training tools. This study, however, may start to turn some heads and change some minds. Even now in response to this study, some games that are specifically targeted at surgeons are being developed specifically as training tools. Even in the commercial field, some games like Trauma Center are making a showing in surgery related games.

However, studies were also quick to show that this is not an excuse to let a child play video games for nine hours at day. The study mentioned that surgeons played for 3 hours a week, and that letting a child play video games in no way made them more prone to get into medical school. Playing video games helps surgeons to improve their already existing skills, not create surgery skills on the spot.

On another note, in the military, they are even making a virtual simulation called STATCare that helps to train combat medics in a multitude of tasks they would need in the field. While the program is not technically a video game and does not really respond as one, the developers are trying to make it significantly more game like. There is another program that is being developed for medical use called The Journey to Wild Divine that relies on biofeedback. While more of a meditation and spiritual simulation, the biofeedback could be used in all sorts of medical tasks and simulations.

It seems that laparoscopic surgery especially would be affected by video game skills since surgeons do not handle the actual tools, but manipulate them with a computer in a micro incision. As this type of surgery becomes more and more popular, video game training will probably become more and more popular. It may also lead to using video game training for other types of surgeons as test results keep coming in pointing to a correlation between video game playing and increases hand-eye coordination.

All this publicity in the medical world about video games has really changed how some people view them. Some hospitals like Beth Israel Medical Center are encouraging their surgeons to play video games for a few hours a week to hone their eye-hand coordination skills, and help them to warm up before a surgery. As Rosser says, “You have to be a Nintendo Surgeon.” Video games have been shown to be relevant in many other aspects of life rather than just entertainment. They are a very versatile art form that can be utilized for improving many areas of society. I hope that through all these sorts of studies, the stigma of video games being only for a certain demographic can be thrown off and that game companies will start to make games that appeal to a wider audience and for wider purposes.

Fun in Game Design: Why We Play Games

There are different theories about fun in game design. Some people have formulas, some people have done studies, and some people have even written books. Gameproducer.net writes about seven things that can make a game fun. Each element that they state is fairly vague and can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Some pertain to formal aspects of the game, and others are relevant in the dramatic aspects of the game. In each portion they give fairly specific examples of what they mean. However, they are quick to point out that these seven elements can only help make a fun game, but they do not necessitate it. In general, making a game fun is much more difficult than just adding certain elements. A designer should look to evoke emotion from the player not only through the storyline of the game, but also through the game design and within the gameplay itself.

Lead Designer of Ultima Online, Creative Director of Star Wars Galaxy, and founder of Area, Raph Koster, has written a book called A Theory of Fun for Game Design. He digs deeply into the theories of fun in game design and hits all sorts of ideas, such as difficulty, people and learning etcetera. He infers that unpredictability is essential to fun gameplay design. Koster says, “Since games are teaching tools, players seeking to advance in a game will always try to optimize what they are doing. If they are clever and see an optimal path - an Alexandrine solution to a Gordian problem - they’ll do that instead of the ‘intended gameplay.’ They will try to make the gameplay as predictable as possible. This then means it becomes boring, and not fun.” Later, he talks about observations he has made in his game design, as well as in his research and in observing his children at play. He does not have a specific list that one should hit to make a game fun, but he does lay out his philosophy behind games and what make them fun for different people and why.

Nicole Lazzaro of XEODesign, Inc. conducted a study on why people play games and the four keys to more emotion without story. She infers that fun is an emotion, and that we have fun when emotion is evoked from a game. Lazzaro states four keys which she names: fiero, curiosity, amuse and relax, or hard fun, easy fun, people fun and serious fun respectively. She studied all sorts of people from hardcore gamers to non-gamers and took note of their reactions when they played games. The study found that evoking certain types of emotion lead to certain types of fun. For example, when a player overcomes a difficult or frustrating challenge, they have a sense of triumph or fiero. The player feels good about himself and also has a story to relate. This sense of accomplishment is fun for the player. Lazzaro looks into the reasons why people have fun playing games and shows goals that a designer should strive towards when creating games. They should look toward evoking one or many of these certain emotions from their players.

However, despite all of this, no one challenge or aspect of a game can be fun for everyone. Designers also have to look into what types of players are out there and what will be fun for each type. Richard Bartle writes about the four different types of players in a paper titled "Players Who Suit MUDs". He states the four types of players are: Achievers, players who like to get everything in the game and the highest level possible; Explorers, players who like to find everything in a game, all the routes and secrets; Socialisers, players who like to meet other people and interact with them in game; and Killers, people who like to kill other players and grief them in game. A good game designer creates a game that can cater to each type of player’s interest while not allowing for one player’s interest to overshadow another’s. For example, a game designer needs to find a way for there to be Killers in a game with Socialisers and let them both are able to have fun at the same time. All in all there needs to be a balance of interest for each type of player to keep them all interested in the game and not become frustrated. This is a very difficult task, and one that game designers are constantly coming up against. Different designers find different ways of solving this problem, and each is significant to its own designer. Also, “Fun” is a very abstract and subjective topic, but there are ways to evoke it from players and keep them coming back to a game that they love.

PlaySmart: Games in Education

There has been some publicity lately about the way some games are, as Christopher Null from Yahoo! Tech writes, “Good for the body, Good for the brain.” With the advent of the Nintendo Wii, physical therapists have been turning to the Wii to help their patients out. Also, A Nintendo DS game called Brain Age was designed to help people keep their brains sharp. Brain Age has also been used by doctor’s to help their elderly patients exercise their minds.

Because of all of this, a non-profit organization called Star Inc., has created a program called PlaySmart that “uses video games to teach children skills like problem solving, objective thinking, literacy, and jumping on turtles” as Kotaku’s Mike Fahey writes. PlaySmart will be coming to schools all over the Los Angeles county starting on October 1, 2007. (An image of students enrolled in this program can be seen to the left.)

Star Inc., has developed this program to use video games to teach students all sorts of skills ranging from literacy to time management. They use games such as Mario Kart (pictured below), Dance Dance Revolution and Pokemon Trading Card Game to teach students these skills. They have even created classes that parents can take with their kids as well as to learn about the medium, and how their kids can learn and stay active while playing video games. This program seems like it could be a good way to bring video games to an older generation as well as clear up some misconceptions that people have about games. On the other hand, as I have not seen the curriculum or the program in action, it could also be a colossal waste of time and even start turning even more people off to games if it does not stay organized and relevant. As it is just starting out, this first year of the program should be monitored very closely to see how successful it is.

On a broader note, it is very exciting to see this new wave of games and philosophy of games. From the Wii to Brain Age, this idea of helping people to stay active through “games” is very interesting and has been widening the user base quite a lot. People who never played games or ever had an interest in them at all have started to play and become very active. Even my parents have a fun time playing the Wii because it is so intuitive and easy to learn. I hope that if this trend keeps up and game designers take into account the success they have had with these ideas, more and more games will be produced that appeal to a wider audience in this way. Also, this program may also lead more people who are not in the gaming community to look at games in a different way, that they will see other merit in them than just entertainment. This program and philosophy could be the beginning of the gaming community growing outside of its current demographic and reaching a much different kind of demographic. If this keeps going on, I think it will lead to a de-villainization of games and an acceptance by a wider audience not only in age, but hopefully in gender as well. Eventually, I think it will lead to a wider acceptance of game outside of the gaming community as well. Even though some people may never be interested in playing games for themselves, they would be accepting of games and see their merit as an artistic and educational medium that can contribute positively to society.

TGS: Tokyo Game Show

The Tokyo Game Show (TGS) is happening! From the 20th to the 23rd, game companies from all around the world will be getting together to show off their new products at the biggest electronic entertainment show in the world. Because it’s such a big deal, people are constantly blogging about TGS. I commented on two blogs that posted about TGS. The first is GigaOm where Jane Pinckard writes about some disappointments and a few surprises she experienced at TGS in a post titled "Tokyo Game Show: A Clouded Vision In A Web 2.0 World?"

I also commented on a post at Joystiq.com where Scott Jon Siegel writes about ThatGameCompany’s new game fl0wer in a post called "Today's most flowery video: 'fl0wer' trailer." The only thing we have seen of it yet is the trailer, but that is enough for me to be excited. The game is made by our very own USC Grad Jenova Chen and his team. I related some information behind Jenova’s initial thesis behind fl0w and expressed my hope that it would be up to par with his previous games.

You can visit the blogs and articles via the links, and you can read my comments on those articles posted below.

Comment:
Jane, I agree with you. It seems that since last year, not too much has been going on in the gaming world. After the next generation systems came out, I was hoping that this year would bring us much more new and innovating things that people have played around with the new hardware to get. But as you pointed out, it seems as though they are just reiterating everything they did on their old systems and updating it for the new ones.

In an era where films and books tend to keep adding on to an original and making a second and third iteration of a hit film, are games being sucked into that as well? I hope not, but at the moment it seems a little disappointing. Now it’s true there are some exciting things happening, but after last year they don’t seem quite as innovative. I was hoping the Wii and its control style would provoke developers to innovate new game genres and interesting ways to play around with the Wiimote. I have not given up hope completely though hearing about the rise of Rez. I just hope the TGS doesn’t follow in the tracks of E3.


Comment:
It seems to me that this game is following right in the vein of fl0w. fl0w was a sandbox game, with such an amount of freedom, the player gets to choose how hard or easy the game play is. fl0w was based on the flow theory of games based on the research of psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi. Basically, it says that for the player to feel the most satisfaction in a game, the abilities of the player and the challenge of the game need to correspond. I think these games are so innovative because they allow the player to determine the challenge of the game as their abilities grow or not.

Personally, I’m very excited to see where they go with this. Jenova Chen and his team are incredibly innovative in my mind and their games are so beautiful. It might not be very action oriented, but I’m content to play a game and sit in wonder of the beautiful visuals and simplistic gameplay they make. I thought that the first game was quite a success in what it was trying to do, but I can definitely see how it might have gotten boring if the players didn’t challenge themselves enough or their skills exceeded the maximum challenge the game had. Either way I’m sure this game will be a fuller and more developed game with the same core and feeling as the first. As I said before, I’m very excited to see how this turns out.

Persuasive gaming: Taking Serious Games Seriously

Serious games are games that try to do more than entertain, they try to teach the player about a subject or make a point about a topic. Many times however, serious games' real point gets overlooked for it's gameplay and outward appearance. Critics attack violent themes and crude graphics and miss the point that the game designer was trying to make by dismissing the game as insignificant or trashy. There are many games that do this and very few get any kind of recognition. One of those that did was America's Army. Games that have recently come out that have caused controversies like this are games such as Rockstar's Bully and Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man.

Rockstar's Bully is an interesting game because it puts you in the shoes of a bully at a boarding school. Many critics see it at its surface level and condemn the game for its violent themes and influence it might have on kids. What they do not see, however, is its critique about school and bullies. Ian Bogost of Serious Games Source writes, "The game certainly sets the stage convincingly. The player's character, Jimmy Hopkins, is dropped off at Bullworth Academy by his disinterested mother and step-father, who are on their way to a lavish honeymoon. This introductory cut-scene doesn't provide a complete back-story for Jimmy, but it does suggest that his home life has been less than supportive. The implication is that his father was never around, and his mother is much more interested in her boy toys than in her son. Jimmy feigns disinterest, but also offers a telling one-liner: 'Why did you have to marry him?'" This context is important because it shows the real comment being made about bullies. From this short cutscene in the beginning, the player can instantly get a good look into Jimmy's life. This game makes a critique about the home lives of bullies and makes a fairly sharp jab at parents. Many parents don't realize or care about the formative influence they have on their own kids, and Bully tries to bring it to the forefront.

Another main theme that Bully confronts is the "social ills of high school." The game portrays bigger and older kids shoving Jimmy if he stands in the wrong place or yelling insults at him. As Jimmy, you see what's wrong with your school and you start to bully the bullies in an effort to bring about change since the administration of the school is completely ineffective. Most critics use this area of the game to condemn it. They attack the violence depicted in the game (both physical and verbal) and do not see the comment being made about schools, specifically boarding schools. The serious tones in this game are completely overlooked in favor of its surface. Critics would rather denounce the game than admit it has a real message to give.

Another game that has come under criticism is Insomniac's Resistance: Fall of Man. Bogost also wrote an article for Gamasutra on this game's controversy as well. He states that the Church of England has threatened to sue Sony for their depiction of Manchester Cathedral in the game. It was stated, "Sony issued a public apology. In their statement, Sony apologized for offending the church or the residents of Manchester, but not for including the cathedral in the game." Bogost writes about how the in the game backstory, the cathedral had been converted into a hospital and the Chimera (the alien race pictured to the right) attacks the cathedral and kills all the humans inside. He makes the point that the church was being depicted as churches have for a long time. A place for helping the poor, impoverished and hurt. The Chimera's attack on the church shows the inhumanity of these alien creatures because they destroy the hurt and sick people inside the church. The do not however, destroy the church building itself, not even seeing it as a monument. This creates a deep-seated feeling of the Chimera as the "other." The Chimera are completely inhuman and uncivilized, not even distinguishing between civilian targets and military targets. The game puts the cathedral in a favorable light and uses it to evoke a righteous anger from the player. They desecrate a church, a "marker of human ethos" and kill all the wounded inside. The designer uses the cathedral to evoke a righteous feeling from the player. The cathedral's desecration is not just wanton destruction. It serves as an outrage to the player they these creatures would defile such a place without even taking notice of its significance in human history and mindset.

In today's world critics and lawyers are so caught up with "violence in video games" and the affect it has on children (whose parents should read the ESRB ratings and decide if their kid should even play it) that they overlook the real affect and message it has. Many games out there have a real message that gets overlooked for its more shallow themes and no one is willing to look deeper. More and more games are classified as serious games now and effort should be made to at least find the deeper message than throwing the game away at the first sign of something the viewer might find distasteful, maybe it's there for a reason.