As for Torchlight, Max Schaefer and Erich Schaefer, which are two of the co-founders of Runic Games, were also co-founders of Blizzard North, the company that developed Diablo and Diablo 2. So Torchlight might turn out to be closer to the Diablo of old than Blizzard’s own Diablo 3. Now I have officially heard too many people saying nice things about Torchlight not to try it at least.

As for the Aussie situation….Thats a bad thing. Not too sure, but I believe Germany is also having some trouble. I think there should deffenetly be a adult/mature rating system in place in Aussie. I understand that gov to be very conservitive and it said to be out of place. That will most likly change with time as the now younger demographics age and come into positions of authority. I guss in time it will get better. My heart goes out to them now tho.

That’s true. There’s a lot of self-censorship happening because the goal is to make the games attractive to as large as possible segment of the population and that’s why the publishers try to be as tactful as possible, and socially aware.

I agree with your 9/12 example, but sometimes the problem is an over-abundance of tactfulness on the part of the publishers. Going back to the comparison with art: sometimes, art is controversial. I’m not saying that games should be making light of everything, but that, from time to time, they shouldn’t be afraid to go into more controversial topics and push the boundaries. See the striptease scene in Heavy Rain, or the whole Kane & Lynch game.

Me, for once, I really liked Kane & Lynch. From a software developer’s standpoint, it was a train wreck, the gameplay was mundane, but the story was something else. Sure, it sell abysmally bad, but I don’t think it was because of its language and brashness, but because its other failings and the debacle its publisher created with the GameSpot review. All in all, I think that Kane & Lynch made a great disservice to gaming in general because when people say Kane & Lynch, they think two things: 1) it was, probably, the most abusive mainstream game ever and 2) it cratered when it came to sales figures, and they’ll infer that it cratered because it was abusive and publishers will shy away from such games in the future. Sure, there’s a Kane & Lynch 2 coming, but it’s from the same publisher. All the rest are conspicuously tame in comparison.

And, anyway, this is censorship with your wallet, which, in the end, is fine by me. My issue is with institutionalized censorship, like the Australian refusal of classification of games (Fallout 3, L4D2 and probably other less well known games as well). I find that the whole thing is positively revolting because they basically say “We won’t add an 18+ rating because you shouldn’t be allowed to view such content, even if you’re of age. We’ll treat you like children because we can and there’s nothing you can do about it.”. I doubt that there was a massive public outcry that prompted them not to add an 18+ rating. Quite the opposite, they refuse to add the 18+ rating despite the public outcry for the lack of one.

Some thoughts:

1 – moving to digital, cloud, whatever clearly helps IP owners to retain control and prevent second hand sales, etc. Hopefully it will offer improved service, etc. but currently I see no guarantee

2 – clearly with games, despite my love of retro, there is an underlying tech shift that tends to leave all titles behind at some point, and I’m sure there are those who like that and want a model where you pay for access for a time then loose it or at least loose the ability to excercise it – for example I own L4D on Steam – Valve may always honour my right to download it, but they don’t have to ensure there is any tech that will run it, therefore my ‘ownership’ becomes moot. Music doesn’t have this issue to the same extent, neither does film (although that could change I guess)

3 – the huge success of traditionally PC titles on 360 and to a lesser extend PS3 has clearly pointed the way towards a closed platform, high sales, DLC environment vs an open platform, user mods, lots of free content. This is a big issue for me. No just on a cost basis, but a creative basis. Currently, you could create a cool mod, get noticed, get published, etc. You can form a really deep community and have a lot of creativity. On console that’s gone currently. You get the game only, supplied maps only, no SDK, no mods. One thing that would make me feel a lot better would be mods, etc. on console. Funnily enough Sony does allow this, and I wish more people would actually back titles on PS3 vs 360 for this, if only to put pressure on MS to open up. It’s a shame that while UT3 can have mods on PS3 there aren’t many. Of course part of the issue is the mod has to be made on PC then put on PS3. We need to see SDK actually shipping with the game and allowing manipulation on the console – with mandatory K&M I would presume, but that’s hardly a problem.

4 – Censorship I doubt would change much from today, so I don’t see hat big a difference. It’s there today and its about content and a willingness to make it available, physical vs digital or whatever makes little difference. That’s a battle for society to prevent a government having the desire or will to make such moves. As for games as Art, well they have a lot of impact, are deeply embedded in some of our cultures, but I don’t think they quite cut the mustard yet, mainly because, in the end, they are primarily made to entertain, not to educate, inform or express something. Clearly though they could be, although I’m waiting for the crucial moment when I play a game and think that a videogame was a better medium that a novel or a film or whatever to convey this story and this comment.

So really, there’s a lot to enjoy right now, but there are for sure some worrying signs, particularly depending upon what you’re looking for. The trend is for controlled, big hits based on repeat franchises and popular content – sound like summer films much – and right now openness and freedom to create and share additional content around titles, plus take more control of the experience, is taking the hit wit this shift (LittleBigPlanet notwithstanding!).

IMHO anyway.

I agree. This may well be an area where the little guy makes the difference. By that I mean the Indie guys. They are a lot tougher to control. With games like Castle Crasher, Tourchlight, Fat Princess, and other games chipping away it might offer some leverage to keep things moving in a fresh direction. As much as people like CoD, Need For Speeds, Halo, Uncharted, or whatever, I don’t think we need annual releases. In the video game industry, little scares me more then the word “Franchise”. Thats code for same old game.
As far as games becoming an art form, I think they already are. They are socialy aware, and have a tremendious impact on our culture. They are reflective of world events and personial strugles. As for a greater acceptence in society…to be shoulder to shoulder with music and movies? I think it will get there. Right alot of people that didn’t grow up with games, don’t understand games. To them it is still a kids things. Some devs/pubs don’t do much to change that preception because there is a ton of money to be made selling said games. But I think once the generaly younger gamer crowd ages, games will become a more acceptable, reputable entertainment source. I am 38yr old, I have played games from Pong. I don’t see that changing anytime soon. What I play has changed. And what I look for in a game has changed. But I still play. I think that will be true for most people. I bet some people even looked at TV the way some people now look at games. I know my mom keeps hoping I will grow out of gaming at some point. When she brings it up, I remind her that she bought a Wii
Last bit, Censorship. I think we have always had it, and will always have it. To some degree it can be seen in the ESRB. But in the broader sense it is supply and demand. If, a game pushes the limits and doesn’t sell … thats censorship. It can’t be assumed that a game will sell simply because it does push the limits. And we can’t be mad if the general public(or even game buying public) cries out against a game that pushes boundries. Freedom of speach goes both ways. The game can pretty much do what it wants. But in the end it will have to answer to the ESRB and the public. If it sells well, then that is their answer. if it doesn’t sell, …. then maybe something needs to be looked at. But please don’t confuse a publishers responsibility to be tactfull and socialy aware with being censored. If on 9/12 a game came out where you could fly jetliners into city buildings to rack up deaths for points … you get the idea, you just can’t get away with doing that. I am not in favor of censorship. But I am in favor of gamers and nongamers voicing their concerns over content that they find objectionable. Gaming is in away a public forum. The game will alaways have to answer to that.

My hat’s off to you fellows.

I agree with your vision. It’s realistic but also rather scary. I say scary because it would imply the users relinquishing almost all control of their content to the publishers. And when you get to that point, there’s the danger of a slippery slope towards censorship because the publishers control all the content and whoever controls the publishers, controls how and what you get access to.

My idea is that, if games want to reach the point where they’re considered art, like movies and music and all the others forms of art (and some of the more enlightened developers and critics think about this possibility) and escape their niche appeal, then there will have to be a balance between the rights and amount of control of the publisher and the rights and amount of control of the users. The problem with DD is that even if there are a number of benefits for the users, the control lies only in the hands of the publisher, and that is a huge cannonball chained to the ankle of the whole gaming world.

Relinquishing control is hard, but I think that the game industry is at a crossroads right now: either choose to try and increase control, and paint themselves into a corner and stagnate, or choose to give more control to the users, and open up more opportunities for growth both for them and for the users.

Totally.

That’s the way that I see things going too.

I dunno…

I think that as long as there’s a market for retro games, someone will always try to supply them.

Games like Fallout, GoldenEye, etc are examples of disagreements between rights holders disagreeing, but I think that they’re few and far between.

But yes, the thought of having to power up a 10 year old 360 (if it still works) just to play a game that I paid for which is restricted to the hard drive doesn’t exactly fill me with pleasure though…

Good reading, and your right.

I feel that the future of Video Games is going to look very different then it is today. I see a mergence of the Console and PC. I see a day when we will no longer have physical media at all. I think we will use server side clusters, Cloud Hubs where we will subscribe to and retrieve our games from. I think the same service will be able to be used across multiplatforms(PC, MAC, Ninetendos Living Room Media Center, etc). Think Netflix. I can watch my streamed movies, on a xb360, PS3, and PC. I think the hardware/manufactueer will be a non-issue. Remember the old Sega Channel? I think it might look something like that. It could easily be something the TeleComs/Cable/Sat companies offer. If you want to play Sony IP, you can subscribe to the Sony Channel. A controler could plug into your Cable box via USB, and bang your off. Someday.
Right now it is kind of like health care, there are too many people making too much money off of the way things work now. They don’t care to abandon that and embrace something new, even if it turns out to be a better system that bennifits everyone else. Its all about money. Gamestop is not going to be excited about Cloud. But just like Blockbuster ignored the online rental/streaming shifts for too long, I think that if said companies ignore DD for too long, they will be cut out of the equation all together. Right now DD is out there because devs/pubs need and want it. It is a way to fight back against second hand sales. It is away to put out the products you want, like new IPs. It is a way to keep creative control. It is away to cut out a few middle men and keep the profits for yourself. And as for the consumer, it offers us more choices, easier acsess, and I think is an all around good thing.
I hate DRM. But, really that is all Cloud is going to be. Advanced DRM. Pay to play. And I understand why the need for DRM exsists. But DRM needs to refine itself.
Another consideration is about older games. Devs/Pubs don’t want you playing older games. They don’t care if in ten years your copy of whatevergame doesn’t work. Because they want to sell you a new copy of their new game. If G1GA decided that CoD MW was good enough for him and didn’t buy CoD MW2, Acti wopuld not only loss a sale, but couldn’t rake him through the coals for more DLC add-ons. I think, again, where we will see future “Retro” games will be in backlogs of Cloud style services like the said Sony Channel or Activision Channel.

I think a lot of cool things are coming our way down the road. I also think a lot of questions need to be answered before it gets here.

I agree with you guys that what GAME and especially GameStop are doing is despicable (to put it mildly). Nevertheless, I was talking more from the standpoint of a buyer who wants to buy old games which haven’t been on the market in a long time like Z (from Bitmap Brothers), M.A.X., Fallout 1 & 2, Baldur’s Gate 1 & 2, the X-Com games, Incubation, BattleZone etc… the list of oldies but goldies is huge.

Fortunately, for these games there’s eBay, gameTZ etc., so that’s not a problem. Sometimes the prices are higher than they were at retail in the first place. Nevertheless, most of the times they’re much more cheaper. Imagine, in 10 years’ time, a gamer wanting to buy the greatest hits of the current generation of games. Most of the physical copies will be unplayable because of DRM (because digital distribution platforms are DRM).

You will say: “Well, but you’ll be able to download them from your favorite digital distribution platform of the moment.”. That might not be as easy as it sounds. With all the copyright craziness happening right now, I would bet that you will see a lot more brawling happening between IP owners (see the ongoing dispute between Interplay and Bethesda about Interplay selling a new edition of the original Fallout games: http://www.next-gen.biz/news/bethesda-sues-interplay-over-fallout). This is most likely to get worse, so it might happen with a lot of old games, especially when there’s an increased focus on milking established franchises instead of creating new ones. That means that republishing old games won’t be as easy as it seems.

Also, the current digital distribution services might not even exist in 10 years’ time. Would you, 10 years ago, believed that Yahoo is going to shut down Geocities? How many of the current service platforms will still be running? I can’t say for sure, but I can bet you anything you want that not all of them will still be up and running. A very interesting article on this topic can be found here: http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/columns/experienced-points/6452-Experienced-Points-Online-Activation-Is-a-Ripoff

They guy brought it out in some shabby looking box, so I asked him if it was second hand, because I wouldn’t have bought it if it was.

He assured me that it was a new copy and definitely wasn’t second hand, so I completed the sale and left the shop.

As soon as I load the game up, what do I see?

Filled up save game slots!

But seriously, what games will you be playing without devs developing them?

…and without devs, what exactly would you play?

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm?

I think used games marketing is going to be the driving force behind Cloud style gaming services. Alot of game devs/pubs are in the red or very close to it. And its easy to understand why, they can’t get paid everytime their game makes a sale. I would like to see the retail guys have to pay a fee to the game pubs each time they make a used sale.

At GAME they put similar used titles next to new ones on the shelf, hoping that you’ll go for the used one.

So they might put used FIFA 09′s right next to new FIFA 10 boxes, or used Saints Row 2 boxes next to new GTA IV boxes.

It’s pretty annoying having all these used titles shoved in your face when you have no intention of buying one.

No, wait.

He was always this bad.