Odds and Ends

• Chris Morris has a column up at CNN/Money about the downward spiral of Majesco. Like every other mention of Majesco's troubles, Morris brings up Psychonauts. It's worth noting, though, that Psychonauts wasn't actually a Majesco project. Ken Gold, Majesco VP of marketing, told me back in November that Psychonauts was originally supposed to be published by Microsoft but was dropped. The developer had already put three to four years of work into the game, and Majesco picked it up and just had to worry about the last portion of development. I don't want to read too much into that, but it's possible that the late grab of Psychonauts led to it being treated differently than a fully in-house game would have been. In any case, while Majesco had the foresight to pick up such a great, original game, none of the company's own games were comparable.
• Next Generation has a piece up on predictions and challenges for the PlayStation 3. The article brings up a great point that's rarely mentioned: "Michael Pachter, analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities says, 'A lot of people in the games media are missing the picture here. This isn't about Sony versus Microsoft. This is about Sony versus Toshiba. Everything Sony does regarding PlayStation 3 is colored by that fact.' " The next-generation DVD question is a huge factor. Not just whether Blu-Ray will beat HD-DVD, but whether consumers will care enough to invest in expensive new players and new DVD libraries all over again. I haven't seen demonstrations of next-gen DVDs played on high-definition TVs, but they would have to be both drastically sharper and just as cheap as regular DVDs to make me care. Then you run into value questions: When a season of the Sopranos can fit on a single Blu-Ray DVD, can HBO justify charging $80 for it? There are all sorts of unanswered questions about the next-gen DVDs, and until they're resolved Sony -- and Toshiba, and everyone else -- will be making a big gamble.
  
• David Rodriguez has a good piece up about infuriating game cut-scenes (hat tip: Kotaku). He's not talking about The Warriors, but one of the reasons I thought that game was lame was a cut scene every three minutes or so. Rodriguez's piece fits into the discussion about video games as art, the limits of story in games, appreciating video games as games. Unlike some other defensive arguments for video games as art, he makes a convincing case why the control games give players is important on its own terms -- not in comparison to other forms of narrative art.
  

  On the other hand, from their earliest incarnation, video games have given each player a unique experience. ... We have at our disposal a tool that can not only give each player a unique experience, but it can allow each person to CREATE their own unique story. How freaking crazy is that? The fancy word for this is “emergent gameplay”. ...

  There are several games that have shown that, not only is this kind of gameplay possible, it is successful. The Sims (maybe you’ve heard of it), Pirates!, Grand Theft Auto (without all the damn cut scenes), and any sports title you’ve ever played. See, most of these games don’t have “stories,” instead they have reasons. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t NEED a story any more than you need a jump button. All you need is a reason to do what you are doing, (or a goal if you will) and a reward for achieving that goal. That is all.

  When you put a story with a beginning and ending into your game, you are in fact putting an artificial lifespan on your game. Once the story is done, the likelihood of someone playing the game again is low. Very few games have such exceptional stories that you just GOTTA sit through it again. I’m really having trouble thinking of one, but I’m sure there’s one somewhere. But non-linear, non-narrative games can be enjoyed over and over again without the overdone storyline and intrusive cinematics.

  Rodriguez isn't saying these player-created stories and experiences are qualitatively equal or better than a movie. He's saying they're different, and great on their own terms. That's the attitude we need.