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"Our gaming market. It reflects our lives. Our lives effect it."

Some of you very sharp people may realise that some sort of sporting competition is being played out this month. It’s very famous, and for those of you still not sure what I am on about, allow me to tell you. A certain football competition called the World Cup is being ferociously fought out in the Far East. But has anyone actually noticed how this has affected gaming throughout the last couple of months? I’m sure when many of you think of the games you are playing at the moment a lot of you will pick out several World Cup related games. ‘Pro Evolution Soccer’, ‘RedCard’ and also a specially made ‘World Cup 2002’ game have been working overtime on our games consoles recently. But supposing there was no World Cup. If this were the case would you really expect a glut of these football games? And if there was a lot released, what would give games players the incentive to play this particular genre over another if there was no world cup? There wouldn’t be an incentive would there? But why? Well you may not have realised, but what you are playing at the moment relies a lot on evolution, and the events currently happening in the world we live in.

So if we take a look at ‘World Cup 2002’ the official game for this year’s footballing extravaganza. It’s sold a lot. It instantly reached a high position in the charts on its first week of release. But most of the people who bought it will most likely admit it’s not the greatest of games. But they still play it. Why though? Well it’s most likely the fact that the game boasts a full license of the World Cup. The World Cup. Something every football fan gets excited about. Imagine the chance to play in the Worlds biggest sporting event. A chance every willing footballer from all over the world would give an arm and a leg to play in (well apart from the fact that giving an arm and a leg would totally destroy your chance of playing football). So it’s clear to see that EA were on a good thing when they snatch the licenses for the game. People want to play what’s going on in the world. It helps them feel apart of it. And that’s why a whole cluster of football games have been reaching our shores in the last couple of months.

But what happens after these months have past? Well a good guess is that all the ‘not so good’ football games are sold of cheaply in the bargain bin while the ones we enjoy playing still succeed, very much like Pro Evolution Soccer has. Then if you look on your calendar you will most likely see other events coming up. Tour De France, Wimbledon and a whole host of other events have given the publishers a chance to take advantage of peoples moods. Something big happens, people want to take part in it. Merchandise and games are bought, and the market fills up with a certain genre of games whether you like it or not.

Then you get things that people never tire of. The premiership; an event that takes up over half of the year. It’s involving and very emotional (especially for Leicester City fans). Footballs supporters love it, and unfortunately for gamers, so do some games producers. Why I say this is unfortunate for gamers, is the fact that some developers take advantage of such popularity. They take so much advantage that they can get away with selling Ade Akinbiyi dressed up as David Beckham. I’m talking about such games as FIFA and David Beckham Soccer. They may not be bad games entirely but they certainly aren’t deserving of the sales they achieve. But they do sell. UK residents like football, UK gamers buy football games.

And now look at the World Wars. They could not have happened. If that were the case then what would happen to greats like ‘Castle Wolfenstein’, ‘Commando’s’, and the brilliant ‘Medal Of Honour series’? All relied on the events of the wars to build there storyline on and if the wars never happened, then these greats would never have existed. So you could say, no matter how bad the war was, it did have its advantages. And that is one prime example that brings me onto my next matter.

Gran Turismo. A name all gamers should instantly recognise. It’s the pedigree in racing games. A classic. However. No motorcar invented, no Gran Turismo. Scary thought isn’t it? But supposing up until 5 years from now there was no such thing as a motorcar. Supposing the gaming market was much more advance than the transport one. Imagine the PS2/GC/Xbox…whatever, was invented 5 whole years even before any existence of sports cars/racing cars. The only thing around was a crummy lorry that was totally inefficient and its sole purpose was to deliver our nice little consoles around the country. Polyphony Digital wouldn’t have any basis to start a game from because there was nothing at all. The idea of a racing game probably wouldn’t have even crossed their minds. We’d probably be playing ‘Console Transporter Lorry 2002 Edition’. It’s a sad thought isn’t it? In fact, if you look at most games today, you could easily say that a large majority are based on the culture and evolution our lives throws at us.

Culture. Another important factor. It’s clear to see that different countries have different genres taking up the space in their gaming charts. Japan, they like all the old style war games and RPG’s. USA gamers have a particular fetish in hardcore sports games. And us? We do like a mixture, but if you really look, we tend to be more towards the football and racing ends of the market. Why? Because that’s what were surrounded by everyday. Most UK residents like football; therefore we get a lot of these sorts of games. F1’s on our TV most weekends, therefore there is no surprise when an F1 game sells a vast amount of copies over here, on our shores. So what urges us to try something new?

Quite a few games are based on totally fictional events. Red Faction, Metal Gear Solid 2, even Wipeout. But when you take a look at these you can see deep down that there just similar to normal ‘everyday’ games. Red Factions shooting, MGS is just a war game, and Wipeouts racing. Unless some developer gets a great idea then there is no way you can get a game that is totally original. So that’s why games like ‘Super Monkey Ball’ do extremely well. It’s something new, that’s never been seen before. But unfortunately it seems most of the bad ideas tend to be games that try to aim at fiction. If you want a fictional game to be successful, it must be a good idea to get people interested. Either that or take the easy route out. Base a game on something that’s already happened/happening in real life. After all we love it. And it shows.

So what do you think?

Do you think everyday things greatly change the look of the gaming market?
What do you think would happen if certain ‘events’ had never happened?
And how do you think the lives we live, change the games we play?
Does something fictional have to have a good idea to succeed?
Do you think if a games based on something from real life then all it needs to do is have good game play to succeed?

Thanks for reading,
Nath

Yer precisely. And if football was different i any way.....the football games could be worse than they are. Imagine if there was only like 5 english teams. Playing a league would be boring.

......just imagine.........if things had been different........if football was purposely a violent game then Redcard wouldn't be any thing new.

Thanks MB. Just like to say that a good example is the way World Cup sold in other countries as opposed to FIFA. They are both exactly (well almost the same) game. Yet FIFA never sold all that well in Jap and USA but World Cup has because the Japs and the US are heavily envolved in it. Thats why unfortunately...like we both sed...developers do insist on trying to be succesful with licenses/world event inspiration, rather than making a decent game. Thats why i am glad ISS/pro evo is finally doing well. In the old days people wanted licenses and English teams over ISS's International...good gameplay versions. For years ISS was overlookedbecause it chose to please the gamer not try and con them, but finally we are starting to see a transformation. most people are realising Pro Evo rules supreme. But still....like my second point said.....fact helps publishers make a good game as it lets them copy the basis so they have more time to work on decent controls/graphics ect. rather than taking hours on working on a decent plot or game idea. So it works both ways...but we can see a trend still...like FIFA sells better than Madden here even though Maddens better! It's just what fancies us instead.

Good post N. Couldn't read the whole thing though, got a poor attention span. Just wanted to mention one thing - consumer stupidity!! Media saturation by one event/cultural phenomenon acts in much the same way as intrusive advertising. ie The world cup is on everyones mind at the moment, and people 'naturally' aspire to enhancing their involvement in it. This parallels things like the Monsters Inc. advertising frenzy where every concievable product from washing powder to fast food jump on to the cross-promotional bandwagon, creating a consumer need to become involved(go and see the movie) The thing is, historically, tie in games(especially World Cup games, but movies too!) have always been on the crapper side of crap! - just riding on the wave of the publics need to be involved in a pseudo-real way. Similar to why Fifa license continues to sell because it has the REAL players, leagues etc and not because it is a real game.....
Quality will always win in the end.....OK Fifa WC2002 may top the charts for a month but PES will maintain it's position of being THE footie game - the one that pushed the envelope.......Take a look at the music charts!!!Theres probably some fat-tongue arsegreasing no talent at No1, but will he be culturally important in 12 months time, can he be mentioned in the same breath as Hendrix, Velvets, Steve Reich(insert your own list - you get my point?!)

Some of you very sharp people may realise that some sort of sporting competition is being played out this month. It’s very famous, and for those of you still not sure what I am on about, allow me to tell you. A certain football competition called the World Cup is being ferociously fought out in the Far East. But has anyone actually noticed how this has affected gaming throughout the last couple of months? I’m sure when many of you think of the games you are playing at the moment a lot of you will pick out several World Cup related games. ‘Pro Evolution Soccer’, ‘RedCard’ and also a specially made ‘World Cup 2002’ game have been working overtime on our games consoles recently. But supposing there was no World Cup. If this were the case would you really expect a glut of these football games? And if there was a lot released, what would give games players the incentive to play this particular genre over another if there was no world cup? There wouldn’t be an incentive would there? But why? Well you may not have realised, but what you are playing at the moment relies a lot on evolution, and the events currently happening in the world we live in.

So if we take a look at ‘World Cup 2002’ the official game for this year’s footballing extravaganza. It’s sold a lot. It instantly reached a high position in the charts on its first week of release. But most of the people who bought it will most likely admit it’s not the greatest of games. But they still play it. Why though? Well it’s most likely the fact that the game boasts a full license of the World Cup. The World Cup. Something every football fan gets excited about. Imagine the chance to play in the Worlds biggest sporting event. A chance every willing footballer from all over the world would give an arm and a leg to play in (well apart from the fact that giving an arm and a leg would totally destroy your chance of playing football). So it’s clear to see that EA were on a good thing when they snatch the licenses for the game. People want to play what’s going on in the world. It helps them feel apart of it. And that’s why a whole cluster of football games have been reaching our shores in the last couple of months.

But what happens after these months have past? Well a good guess is that all the ‘not so good’ football games are sold of cheaply in the bargain bin while the ones we enjoy playing still succeed, very much like Pro Evolution Soccer has. Then if you look on your calendar you will most likely see other events coming up. Tour De France, Wimbledon and a whole host of other events have given the publishers a chance to take advantage of peoples moods. Something big happens, people want to take part in it. Merchandise and games are bought, and the market fills up with a certain genre of games whether you like it or not.

Then you get things that people never tire of. The premiership; an event that takes up over half of the year. It’s involving and very emotional (especially for Leicester City fans). Footballs supporters love it, and unfortunately for gamers, so do some games producers. Why I say this is unfortunate for gamers, is the fact that some developers take advantage of such popularity. They take so much advantage that they can get away with selling Ade Akinbiyi dressed up as David Beckham. I’m talking about such games as FIFA and David Beckham Soccer. They may not be bad games entirely but they certainly aren’t deserving of the sales they achieve. But they do sell. UK residents like football, UK gamers buy football games.

And now look at the World Wars. They could not have happened. If that were the case then what would happen to greats like ‘Castle Wolfenstein’, ‘Commando’s’, and the brilliant ‘Medal Of Honour series’? All relied on the events of the wars to build there storyline on and if the wars never happened, then these greats would never have existed. So you could say, no matter how bad the war was, it did have its advantages. And that is one prime example that brings me onto my next matter.

Gran Turismo. A name all gamers should instantly recognise. It’s the pedigree in racing games. A classic. However. No motorcar invented, no Gran Turismo. Scary thought isn’t it? But supposing up until 5 years from now there was no such thing as a motorcar. Supposing the gaming market was much more advance than the transport one. Imagine the PS2/GC/Xbox…whatever, was invented 5 whole years even before any existence of sports cars/racing cars. The only thing around was a crummy lorry that was totally inefficient and its sole purpose was to deliver our nice little consoles around the country. Polyphony Digital wouldn’t have any basis to start a game from because there was nothing at all. The idea of a racing game probably wouldn’t have even crossed their minds. We’d probably be playing ‘Console Transporter Lorry 2002 Edition’. It’s a sad thought isn’t it? In fact, if you look at most games today, you could easily say that a large majority are based on the culture and evolution our lives throws at us.

Culture. Another important factor. It’s clear to see that different countries have different genres taking up the space in their gaming charts. Japan, they like all the old style war games and RPG’s. USA gamers have a particular fetish in hardcore sports games. And us? We do like a mixture, but if you really look, we tend to be more towards the football and racing ends of the market. Why? Because that’s what were surrounded by everyday. Most UK residents like football; therefore we get a lot of these sorts of games. F1’s on our TV most weekends, therefore there is no surprise when an F1 game sells a vast amount of copies over here, on our shores. So what urges us to try something new?

Quite a few games are based on totally fictional events. Red Faction, Metal Gear Solid 2, even Wipeout. But when you take a look at these you can see deep down that there just similar to normal ‘everyday’ games. Red Factions shooting, MGS is just a war game, and Wipeouts racing. Unless some developer gets a great idea then there is no way you can get a game that is totally original. So that’s why games like ‘Super Monkey Ball’ do extremely well. It’s something new, that’s never been seen before. But unfortunately it seems most of the bad ideas tend to be games that try to aim at fiction. If you want a fictional game to be successful, it must be a good idea to get people interested. Either that or take the easy route out. Base a game on something that’s already happened/happening in real life. After all we love it. And it shows.

So what do you think?

Do you think everyday things greatly change the look of the gaming market?
What do you think would happen if certain ‘events’ had never happened?
And how do you think the lives we live, change the games we play?
Does something fictional have to have a good idea to succeed?
Do you think if a games based on something from real life then all it needs to do is have good game play to succeed?

Thanks for reading,
Nath