Must-Read Article: Thugging Up The Games

[NovaXpress]

1Up: Thug Life

This is a scary article. It's about the obvious trent to "urbanize" games such as need For Spped and Tony Hawk. The theory is that young gamers only want realistic characters.

 

Midway's chief marketing officer Steve Allison agrees with Ecko. When discussing the move away from pure fantasy to realism in Midway's games, Allison characterizes the "dragons and robots" fraternity as "Old school. And when I say that, I mean old boys old school. The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay. They're a very vocal bunch, but they're just not the market anymore. Love it or hate it, the market tells us what it wants, and the guys who make that stuff win. Look, Beyond Good & Evil was a great technical execution that only 60,000 people bought. Why? Because no one was interested in it. It wasn't relevant to anyone. Today, you have to provide what people want, and dragons, elves, and fairies just aren't on the top of their lists right now."

That explains the poor sales of the Final Fantasy and Zelda series I guess.

 

I agree that there is an element which wants these types of themes, but if they overuse it on weak games (as they are clearly about to do) they will burn it out. Grand Theft Auto wasn't a hit because it was violent and hip. It was a great game. And they'll find that great games, properly promoted will sell whether it's hip-hop or fantasy themed.

[sigma]

Just confirms what I've been saying for years: Average Con-soomer = Lemming

[Jess Ragan]

See, the great thing about this is that while Microsoft and Sony desperately battle each other for the fickle dollar of the braindead casual gamer, Nintendo will have the family market, and the 12 and under demographic all to themselves. Kids and their parents haven't fallen off the face of the Earth, you know... they ARE out there, and they DO still buy video games. Is the family gaming market as lucrative as pandering to the lowest common denominator? No. But when the dumbasses get bored with video games and only the truly devoted gamers are left, Nintendo will have their support, while Sony and Microsoft will have absolutely nothing.

 

JR

[Kialan]

I hate "urbanized" games. I f***ing hate them.

 

Anyone see the blockbuster "flip it" games commercial? That commercial is actually very sure to turn me from a good mood to an angry one. I don't know why, but I just hate those "urbanized" and "hip" kids in it. Especially that white guy with the beanie at the counter who looks high. They're the playstation durrrr era people and I hate their guts. I hope they stay away from classic gaming.

[pmpddytim]

Today, you have to provide what people want, and dragons, elves, and fairies just aren't on the top of their lists right now."

 

Yeah, that lord of the ring movie really bombed at the box office. People just don't get into fantasy anymore .

 

The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay.

 

Me and my friends are all in our early 20's and we don't like this "thug" trend. IMHO I think the people who are really into the "thug" type games are probably too young to be playing them.

 

-Tim

[NovaXpress]

Atari is making a video game based on a fucking clothing company? What the hell. I can't wait to play The Gap.

 

Hip-hop styles is popular with the kids and that's fine, but when a style is over-exploited it becomes no fun for anyone. And apparently vidoe game companies need to realize what movie studios have found out: fantasy always sells.

[SteveW]

Aren't "thug" games aimed at the kind of people who either steal or pirate games? Is that such a wise decision, to market games about breaking the law to early 20's kids who will break the law themselves by downloading and burning Midway's games?

[NovaXpress]

Aren't "thug" games aimed at the kind of people who either steal or pirate games?

No, they're aimed at 15-year old suburban white kids with disposable income, just like verything else.

[cryptik76]

Hip-hop styles is popular with the kids

 

That would explain why every thirty seconds some dumbass with too much bass drives by our apartment every thirty seconds.

 

I've said this before on this board, but I hate hip-hop culture. I hate the way it has a complete and utter disregard for those of us who don't want the music, the lifestyle, and the profanity shoved in our faces and ears.

 

If the police don't help us by enforcing noise violations, there's going to be a vigilante resistance soon, and I'm going to lead it.

[cryptik76]

That would explain why every thirty seconds some dumbass with too much bass drives by our apartment every thirty seconds.

 

Crap! This is exactly the reason why we need to have the access to edit our own messages. I really need to proofread this stuff before I post it.

 

[keilbaca]

I'm looking towards another video game crash. Seriously, they are running out of ideas, and the latest games are either sports (don't like), MMORPG's (don't like), FPS (still play counter-strike but that's about it), and RPG's (not selling well) The idea about video games is to get away from it all, be in another fantasy world. The only game I am looking forward to is Gradius V (which i played, i only played the first level, good graphics, way too easy, hell, options detatch now, and you start where you died, and you can catch the option again. lame, takes away from the challenge.) Why do you think they rereleased all the old games again for gameboy advance? running out of ideas. I'm definitely looking towards a video game crash soon, and we're gonna be the ones left playing our atari's.

[keilbaca]

Hip-hop styles is popular with the kids

 

That would explain why every thirty seconds some dumbass with too much bass drives by our apartment every thirty seconds.

 

I've said this before on this board, but I hate hip-hop culture. I hate the way it has a complete and utter disregard for those of us who don't want the music, the lifestyle, and the profanity shoved in our faces and ears.

 

If the police don't help us by enforcing noise violations, there's going to be a vigilante resistance soon, and I'm going to lead it.

 

You and me both. they blast the music loud, its like telling everyone "I'm hip, and if you're not, we're gonna force it into you." I'll be 2nd in command of your resistance. The dorms is worse. Nothing like trying to sleep because you gotta work, and 3 rooms down someone blasting rap. Meh. People bug me.

[NovaXpress]

20 years ago people complained about the kids' loud rock music.

 

20 years before that people complained about the kids' loud jazz music.

 

2000 years before that people complained about the kids' loud drumming and sacrifices.

 

Welcome to your generation.

[hex65000]

** Rant warning!

Agreed. The 'thug look' on some of these kids irritates me alone. During a discussion with my girlfriend (who is a teacher) I concluded that these guys want to emulate a lifestyle that isn't remotely a positive role model. They want to be a criminal and live the gangsta life. If they were paying attention, they'd realize that there is a mortality rate attached to that. In my darker fantasies, making that criminal life shorter feels appealing.

 

When they parade through slightly slack jawed and mumbling that they want Drivah-tree or overhyper and you can't make out any of the words that come out of their mouths. Looks like a job for my force P!mpslap. Kids appear to be more rotten as I get older and yeah, I was'nt a great kid either. I almost wish I could go back in time and observe myself from a 3rd person perspective.

 

** Rant off!

Oh, we were talking about games... A modern crash would be a welcome sight for sore eyes. I have played some of the GTA 3 series, and just don't find them that exciting. It's okay, but the appeal hasn't appeared. I don't want Midway Arcade classics 3 -- gangsta ed. or knuckles putting a cap in Dr. Eggman's a$$ just to end the series. The Cube does have the smallest library of the current gen systems, however they seem to be generally more solid than the PS2 titles and some of the Xbox titles.

 

Drake should have had another 6 mos. of development time. I'm told Kabuki Warriors should never have been.

 

OTOH, Medabots Infinity needed another 1-2 mos. to make the ctrls and camera ctls better. Maybe some better voice talent.

 

In PC games that is the nicety, if there were any nasty holes, they could be fixed in the next patch. In fact it's almost assumed that there will be a patch involved.

 

Yeah, I'm meandering this morning... need more coffee..

 

Hex.

[ And now my finishing move: Force Jockitch! ]

[Stingray]

The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay. They're a very vocal bunch, but they're just not the market anymore.

 

Well, I'm 34 and I spend a lot of money on video game stuff. I'm not "the market", huh?

 

-S

[heavy-sixer]

Midway's chief marketing officer Steve Allison agrees with Ecko. When discussing the move away from pure fantasy to realism in Midway's games, Allison characterizes the "dragons and robots"

 

I guess I'm a member of the "dragons and robots" fraternity. This Allison character shouldn't make off-hand comments about dragons and, especially, robots! Without dragons and robots, where would video/computer gaming be today?

[Adrian M]

Game companies can keep their thug and urban lifestyle crap game elements to themselves.

 

I want no part of it. Big thumbs down.

[+Random Terrain]

20 years ago people complained about the kids' loud rock music.

 

20 years before that people complained about the kids' loud jazz music.

 

2000 years before that people complained about the kids' loud drumming and sacrifices.

 

Welcome to your generation.

I've always hated loud music (even as a kid), but it's even easier for idiots to shake the walls of your house as they drive by with the boom cars that even your average trailer trash ass-muncher can afford. Luckily, a local town has just passed a loud noise ordinance and if the music is loud enough to shake walls 30 feet away, they will have to pay around $200 for each ticket they get. It's been strangely quiet around here lately.

 

Back on topic, I don't care anymore what game companies make because I'm starting to hate everything they release no matter what it is. When I find a game design program that I like, I'm going to start making my own games again. Games that I want to play. Games that have a 1980s style, but with better graphics (I hope). These will be freeware games and I'll have them on my web site for anyone who wants to play them.

[Major Havoc 2049]

When Halo 2, Metroid 2, Final Fantasy 12 and the new Zelda outsell NARC 10 to 1 each, then this guy will look like a jackarse. Hell, Midway's most popular game this fall will probably be the latest Mortal Kombat and that's all about fighting in a fantasy world. John Romero is working on a new Gauntlet for Midway and I'm sure that will sell beter than NARC as well.

[+kisrael]

Just confirms what I've been saying for years: Average Con-soomer = Lemming

 

That's a really arrogant attitude. It's also kind of a dumb thing to say--of course gamers follow trends and fads, partially to be "cool", partially to be able to communicate w/ other gamers while it's still a hot topic, but also becauase there isn't time to evaluate every game out there, and usually there is a correlation where popular w/ people in your demographic=good, or at least you're likely to like it...

[Jess Ragan]

Allison characterizes the "dragons and robots" fraternity as "Old school. And when I say that, I mean old boys old school. The guys bitching about this new trend are inching up on 35 years old, and they grew up on old-school gameplay. They're a very vocal bunch, but they're just not the market anymore. Love it or hate it, the market tells us what it wants, and the guys who make that stuff win. Look, Beyond Good & Evil was a great technical execution that only 60,000 people bought. Why? Because no one was interested in it. It wasn't relevant to anyone. Today, you have to provide what people want, and dragons, elves, and fairies just aren't on the top of their lists right now."

 

Why am I not surprised to see that kind of narrow-minded thinking and desperate pandering from a company owned by Sumner Redstone, the CEO of Viacom and the man responsible for such pop-culture train wrecks as MTV?

 

The folks at Midway know they can sell games by throwing in buckets of blood and severed heads, as opposed to good, solid gameplay. But honestly, how long can this marketing strategy work before people get tired of it?

 

Furthermore, if controversial games are what make the industry successful, then why is Acclaim (who, as one professional game journalist put it, "has the sense of social responsibility of a serial rapist") teetering on the brink of bankruptcy?

 

JR

[+kisrael]

The other thing is, yeah, there's an increasing thug element, but I think reports of it being THE wave of the future are exageratted...some of those games they list were relatively obscure.

[gdement]

I also wonder if the extreme violence trend could be a catalyst for a crash. Game companies are already relying on the shock factor to market their games. All the true game design talent may eventually dry up, and around the same time consumers will get tired of the gimmicks. The kneejerk response from the industry will be to jack up the stupidity even further. This could all come crashing down with a glut of games that all look the same and aren't fun to play.

[BeerGnome]

Hey.. remember when video game tie ins with a hollywood release was a novelty?

now its expected

I'm just waiting for some one to come out with a live action GTA movie, Hell, I'm surprised it hasn't been done allready.

in any case.. the video game industry has gone extremly main stream to the point where some video games production budgets are riveling Big budget movies, and being delivered with all the hype of a summer blockbuster release.

if there is money to be made, they'll try to make it

[NovaXpress]

After seeing how the Lara Croft movies destroyed Tomb Raider, Take Two might not want to make a movie.

 

Part of the appeal of games, even realistic ones, is the fact that it's not totally convincing. GTA would feel really creepy if all the violence was photo-realistic. Sure, sick fucks like me would still buy it but the mainstream would lose interest because the fantasy is blown. Some feel that the Tomb raider games were killed when Lara changed form being an iconic figure (which we can fill pout with our own choices of characteristics)to a part played by Angelina Jolie.