Nathan Blades looks at the polarising RPG for PS3 & 360.
Jason Rose brings us a buyers' guide to smartphones available this Christmas.
Nathan Blades covers some console and industry-defining titles for the Sony PlayStation
Nathan Blades burns rubber in Mario kart 7.
Well this new model of gaming is capturing the interest of more established games developers worldwide. Previously a game developer would start out with these irritatingly addictive minigames so playable on the GameBoy for example, then move on to the more developed fare. Now that the iPhone has become a multi-purpose utility tool that does everything short of wash you in the bath, there is a growing question about the sustainability of the traditional gaming model (go to GAME, play £50 for new Mario game, complete and repeat).
In fact, with the announcement that Apple computers will have the same access to the App store that the iPhone currently enjoys, developers have been predicting the same for traditional games. Developers of id and Blitz games have been postulating the idea of video games being downloaded exclusively onto consoles, even predicting a future where a 'hard copy' of a game doesn't exist at all (seen here:[1])
It's hard what to say exactly about this new idea. Personally I do not feel satisfied with only having a digital copy of the game; it's the exact reason why I refuse to pay money for a Kindle that will destroy the digital book after you have read it so many times when holding a book in my hand is so much more satisfying. However a new generation is emerging for whom downloading has become the norm and are not so fussed the game's physical copy. Rather than trudging through the wet and snow to get a game, why not sit in the warmth of your home and download it in seconds. As wonderful as this paradise sounds, years of experience with dodgy broadband that goes down quicker than Christiano Ronaldo in a banana factory would lead me to question the reliability of the internet for all console games. Especially as outside of London, let alone other countries, getting fast broadband can be an absolute chore. so GAME, Gamestation et. al still has a while to stagger on yet
However what this means is that games developers are becoming ever more reliant with gamers who just want to impulse buy. It's hard to do that in GAME: first you have to commit, what is in some people's eyes, still a social stigma, walk in and buy it, wincing at the price. With downloading you go 'oooh shiny!' in your best Homer Simpson impression and go for it. Which is all very well but I do worry that when the next exciting thing comes along these gamers will vanish and so too will original developers, subsumed into bland corporations where Call of Duty^9 will be the order of the day and any originality forgotten in the face of profit.
Despite all this, Angry Birds is a very addictive game.
You must log in to submit a comment.
