PA, what happened to you man? You used to be cool.
Okay okay. Given the more balanced news post, I’m somewhat inclined to give this one a free ride. As is often the case with PA, their position gains nuance once Tycho starts talking. They’re not condoning the new Duke Nukem, and they’re unquestionably correct about Duke Nukem 3D’s indelible impact on the industry.
Still, as is often the case with PA, the deans of video game fandom have decided to discuss the gaming industry at length, while dismissing the crushing sexism of our fandom/industry as something beneath notice.
I was tempted to explain this at length. Then I realized something: No one reads what I say anyways. So, here’s my thoughts on PA’s “counter-argument”, brought to you by the power of Ctrl-C and Ctrl-V, and protected from legal action by the copyright exceptions for parody and transformative works*:
Thank you very much, good night.
P.S. – As I find I must ALWAYS say when I post about something serious: I welcome debate. If you disagree, please comment. However, while I welcome debate; Trolling and rambling bullshit are beneath my notice. Stay on topic. Debate me on the point I’m making, or I’ll delete your post. If you’re upset by this, you’re welcome to post whatever you want to post on your own blog.
* – Oh and see what I did there? The DMCA can take a long walk off a short pier.
3 Comments
Now you see, somebody does read what you write.
Yes, lots of the video game industry is, well, shallow and juvenile. But on the other hand, they do have their demographic to satisfy and some of them manage to make a fair amount of money doing it. I can’t argue with the free market but I keep looking for a more sophisticated video game just like I keep looking for that $100 bottle of single malt scotch which only costs $50. It’s a quest worth continuing.
Doctor Bill
PS Hoping you will get back to D.H. sometime soon.
It’s true that they’re trying to sell to a demographic. However, that same excuse is used by Hollywood when they whitewash movies that should have minority casts. The Last Airbender and Akira, to name two. We’re told that it’s just business, that the product has to be catered to a young white adolescent male audience.
However, the evidence doesn’t bear out. The Last Airbender tanked in theaters, precisely because it wasn’t handled with a proper respect for minorities. Closer to home, titles like Duke Nukem, appear to be “A-list” video games, and they do well enough to recoup their investment. (God of War and Gears of War are two good examples of this. On my personal fan-list, Bioshock did quite well for itself.) But when you compare these “A-List” titles to the real best sellers of the industry, the numbers get a little bit surprising.
Some of the best selling video games of all time? Myst, Roller Coaster Tycoon, and The Sims. The sales of these games completely blow away the sales of relatively niche titles like Halo.
Yes. When you compare the sale of Myst to Halo, Halo becomes embarrassingly obscure.
Similarly, look at consoles. xBox 360 vs. the Wii. For a very long time, the Wii outsold the 360, and Wii titles outsold 360 titles? Why? The Wii has inferior hardware, and developers complain both about the requirements of programming games for it, and the complexity clearing games through Nintendo’s approval system. So why does it outsell? It’s a bastion of non-niche titles that appeal to mainstream consumers. The numbers started to reverse when Microsoft released the Kinect. Why? Mainstream friendly games started showing up on the console.
When it comes to demographics, which one has more customers? Consumers who own consoles/computers? Or male “Hardcore” gamers who’ve developed the specialized skills and tastes necessary to enjoy complex first person shooters?
Granted, taking the sexism out of Duke Nukem doesn’t make it much less of a niche title, but when your audience is as small as FPS-players, can you really afford to alienate any of your demographic by treating women so poorly? You have to achieve well over 60% market share in your target audience if you want to turn a profit on a “hardcore” FPS. Alienating even 5% of that population is simply bad business.
As for Darkened heart, the gears are already turning. You can expect to see some significant news in the next few weeks. It’ll still be a little while before I’m ready to release the next chapter, but as soon as a few specific parts arrive, I’ll be ready to announce at least one big bit of news.