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"The 'Lost Ones'"

In the imaginary quagmire that is a games shop, be it SR Upminster, GAME or even the game section at your local Tesco, something is occurring. On simple shelves on a shop floor, a rack full of games proudly display the latest releases for all to see, enticing your money and your love. The big players have brought out their top guns – Mario Sunshine, FIFA 2003, Splinter Cell, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, Smackdown 4, and they sit splendidly at the forefront of the shop and your mind, ensuring big profits for the big companies and a comfy home for the big releases. But they are not the only inhabitants of The Shelf – hidden to the far left on the third rack down, behind a half finished McDonalds chocolate milkshake carton, is another game; one that has many virtues, much promise, but will hardly ever get the chance to capture the imagination of the ordinary consumer – they are the ‘Lost Ones’.

The ‘Lost Ones’ are games that never get the publicity – adverts are never devoted to them, they hardly ever grace the front cover of your favourite magazines, yet are games that would be worthwhile additions to any games collection. Whilst copies of better publicised, or more recognised games fly of the shelf, they sit there gathering dust. There are different degrees to this problem – some games get some recognition but never that which it truly deserves, games like the Shenmue series, Jet Force Gemini on the N64, or TIF2003. Other games get hardly any popular recognition at all – games like Rez, or Doshin. Often, they are games that avid gamers like me or you will probably have heard of, but Joe Public, i.e. the regular consumer won’t have because they always gets pushed into the background, and therein lies the shame – each individual may never have heard about a game, but because it is barely mentioned or we don’t get any exposure to it, we miss out.

There are many reasons for this. Christmas. 'Tis the season to be jolly? Not if you’re about to become a ‘Lost One’. Christmas, contrary to what many companies believe, is probably the worst time for games to be developed, unless of course they’re one of the major releases. At Christmas competition is higher than never before – all the big developers bring out their major releases, and with limited money supply (something I know all to well about) of consumers, they are likely only to spend on the big releases. The smaller games that in many cases are probably better than their higher profile counterparts (e.g. Fifa 2003 will probably sell bucketloads more than TIF2003, despite the latter playing a better game), will almost definitely sell less, and therein lies the problem – if developers have a new unheard of game, why release it at Christmas? Whereas the rationale is usually ‘people have more money, they’re more likely to buy it’, that scenario never usually materialises – instead, they just get pushed aside to make way for the big games.

Why do they get pushed aside? No-one’s interested. Why is no-one interested? Because they never get much coverage, and it is down to the fault of the console owners, the inability (due to financial constraints) of the smaller developers to market it effectively, lack of advertising both in magazines, and sometimes the magazines themselves can have an effect in terms of how much coverage they give a game. Take the current Gamecube situation, and for the sake of argument two games, Starfox Adventures and Animal Crossing. One game got 90% and the other 70-odd %. Of these two games, one got the front cover of the magazine, has adverts dotting up around towns and bus stops, and is being forwarded as the premier Gamecube game this Christmas. And that, as you know, is Starfox Adventures, the 70% games. The 90% games, Animal Crossing, doesn’t even have a PAL release. Where’s the logic???

This leads to a ‘vicious circle’ scenario. Games like that will never get the recognition it deserves. It is also important to consider the effect this might have on smaller developers. A small developer ploughing their resources and expertise into a game that will be released at Christmas will probably never realise the potential it could have, either in merit or profit. This could effect their long term future, let alone the short term future of the game in question. This sort of vicious circle scenario is hurting the industry from this perspective, as instead of perhaps getting something new and original, we’re getting the fifteenth FIFA sequel.

So my message to you is next time you’re in a shop or reading a mag, don’t run straight to the games you usually get first, or the ones you’ve heard most about, instead try something different. Look at games you never usually buy – read the back, see what its about, maybe give it a rent. Whether or not a game becomes one of the ‘Lost Ones’ is down to you. Make sure you check the whole shelf rather than the usual suspects at the top or out in front, you never know, there might just find a game you’ll love.

Just be careful not to spill any of that chocolate milkshake.

Thanks for reading

RM18 wrote:
> Nomad Soul wrote:
> I'm always on the look-out for good "lost ones", or
> "rainbows-in-the-dark" as I call them. In fact, most of my
> favourite games tend to be such games: Rez and Shenmue for instance.
>
> Yes, my fellow Shenmue fan. Wondering why Shenmue never got as much
> attention as it deserved, did anyone who didn't read a Dreamcast
> magazine even know it existed? All RPG fans may never even know about
> the Best Game Ever™...

Gah, I so didn't think this game was all it was cracked up to be. Go here, talk a bit, go there talk a bit more to her, go back to talk to him, then go home and talk some more.

Next disc, go here, run to the bus stop, go to work all day and be bored, talk a little at dinner, hope something happens, work for the rest of the day, go to sleep. Get up next day go to bus stop, travel to work....
The game felt like a chore.

Too little fighting, way too much convo.

Nice graphics though. :)

Yeah.

I went out and purchased Phantom Crash for the Xbox over the weekend. Even though Official Xbox Magazine gave it an "Elite Award" not many people got a look into it, due to the surge of the monster titless hitting the console this month.

The best game ever hm? :o)

Nomad Soul wrote:
> I'm always on the look-out for good "lost ones", or
> "rainbows-in-the-dark" as I call them. In fact, most of my
> favourite games tend to be such games: Rez and Shenmue for instance.

Yes, my fellow Shenmue fan. Wondering why Shenmue never got as much attention as it deserved, did anyone who didn't read a Dreamcast magazine even know it existed? All RPG fans may never even know about the Best Game Ever™...

:D

I tend to rely on SR for my information about games. Mostly the forums, people talking about what games are great at he moment. Often I find that its the smaller games that are good for me. Maybe its because I'm an RPG fan. Which also means that there aren't as many games coming out to suit my taste, so as far as RPGs go, I tend towards buying most of the ones that get released, even if they suck abit.

Good Post.

I'm always on the look-out for good "lost ones", or "rainbows-in-the-dark" as I call them. In fact, most of my favourite games tend to be such games: Rez and Shenmue for instance.

er-no wrote:
> *rubs eyes*
>
> *clicks back a few times*
>
> I have seen this somewhere before. Why post it twice dude?

Sorry. Just that a reply in Prime is like snow at Christmas - you think its going to happen every time, but you always end up disappointed.
:D

Oh deary me, there are so many games that dont even get advertised. GameCube didn't really get advertised before its launch. They had 3million or something so where did it all go?

Yep this is why I buy game magazines and scour the net for info any new stuff.

Without it I would have missed a classic or two and probably have bought South Park.

Just seen another X-Box advert, anyone else get the feeling that Microsoft will put out so many adverts that they actually persuade people to buy their machine and with their almost infinte amount of money just completely take over the gaming scene?

Nice post.

Nice post.

*rubs eyes*

*clicks back a few times*

I have seen this somewhere before. Why post it twice dude?