Why I Hate Old People, Little Girls, and Women

Hate may be a bit strong of a word, but at least it got your attention. I've been noticing lately that, like last year's YouTube media frenzy, the Wii has gotten more than it's fair share of the spotlight from popular and respected publications. It's in the forefront not because of it's technical mastery or the next big game, but because it is bringing everyone into the industry, something Nintendo is very proud about as we saw at E3. Everyone is playing the Wii, young and old, male and female, cat and dog. While all this is good, has anyone thought of the adverse affects of this phenomena?

While this is merely observational I think it should be noted that more and more developers are designing their games to be more family friendly. For example, the next rendition of Madden on Wii will have a simplified "Family-fun" control scheme that can be chosen so that everyone has a fair game no matter how long they have played. Personally, I always thought that games should require skill to win. If you can just waggle the controller instead of mastering the game's real controls and be able to take on any player, it becomes obvious that mastering the standard set is pointless. The game becomes easy to play and could really put a cramp on the style of a veteran gamer.

Now, while the 360 and Ps3 versions of these controls are still the same as they used to be, don't think changing the controls for neophyte inclusiveness hasn't been considered. At the very least we are now seeing 1st party publishers going out of their way to produce games that are casual friendly. The industry's media outlet are buzzing with words of increased profits due to the new consumer base, but in order to see any of that money game companies are going to have to make games that attract them. The thing about investing is in order to do it, money needs to be spent now. There is a limited budget in each publisher's account and if those funds are being diverted to casual games what is left for the hardcore developer to work with?

Luckily most casual games do not cost a lot, but the money-men know what profit means and if they can turn an equal or near-equal payout of a game that takes half the development time and half the cost they are going to do it. What I'm trying to say is that if this trend of casual game popularity increases and the Wii turns out not being a fad, and a genuine piece of Americana publishers are going to hedge their bets with what will sell, leaving the more hardcore game enthusiast high and dry with nothing to play but Wii Study.

While I do welcome the new gamers to our club, I think I should point out a few things before all the developers go willy-nilly catering to the whims of the 8 and 80 crowd. While Nintendo states that more new gamers than ever are playing their system, the cause of this is veteran gamers bringing a console home and encouraging mom and sis to try it out. It is very rare that I see a woman buying a Wii for herself, and I have not once seen anyone over the age of 40 buy one. This new "target customer" isn't really a customer yet. They may be buying software, but few ever bought the hardware. Instead that is the $300 burden left for the guys like us to bear.

Do I honestly think the industry will be shaken at it's core leaving the old schools of gameplay to slip between the fissures of a newly founded world? No, but things are changing and we will notice a difference in the types of games publishers will fund. The growth of the industry through these newbies is good, but we need to be cautious it is growth and not displacement.