* Images by the members of Found in the Subway Facebook Fan Page, Raph Koster website, Aaron Alamo, Adarian Herschel, and Flickr groups participants.
Tag Archives: gaming
The readings of this week address the tension between reality and fiction, representation and simulation. Why are video games so appealing, engaging and addictive?
Book author and game designer Raph Koster explores the nature of games, and explains what makes them highly attractive. He argues that the essence of a game is very different from the story it is packed into. The author responds to the controversy about violence in video games and the effect of media on behavior. According to Koster:
- Games are about teaching underlying patterns. Metaphors are used to help the player understand the logic of a game. The story/plot of a game is only a “side dishes for the brain.” It is the underlying pattern or challenge that makes it interesting.
- Differences between PacMan or Deathrace are only formal. Games train people to look beyond fiction and learn underlying (mathematical) patterns.
- Games aren’t stories:
- Games involve experiential teaching processes (learning by doing), whereas stories teach vicariously (lessons learned from a character)
- Games objectify, whereas stories evoke empathy (=identification)
- Games categorize and simplify realities, whereas stories admit complexities
- Games focus on people’s actions, whereas stories deal with emotions and thoughts
- Are stories superior? Or when does a gamer cry? Games generally evolve around emotions related to mastery and don’t involve overcoming complex moral challenges.
However, Koster points out that games can be really fun (stories not always).
- Fun is the act of mastering mentally an aesthetic, physical, or social problem.
- Flow can lead to fun (though it is not a condition): the flow of a game lies in between boredom (to easy) and frustration (to difficult). A challenge should push gamers towards their edge; this is what keeps them hooked and reward them with triumph and pleasure.
- Fun is a key evolutionary advantage; our brain gives us positive feedback for learning and practicing survival tactics- in a context where there is no pressure.
Gonzalo Frasca (2001), SIMULATION 101: Simulation versus Representation
Gonzalo Frasca is a researcher and game developer. Besides commercial games for Cartoon Network, he also likes to create videogames based on news event, like Newsgaming or Howard Dean for America. Like Koster, Frasca argues that the essence of games differs from stories. Videogames aren’t “interactive fiction,” but are built on simulation.
- Magritte’s painting of a pipe represents a pipe. However, it is not a real pipe. Representation is a traditional form of narrative.
- Simulation goes beyond representation, as it can also model the behavior of the system or object represented. SimCity simulates a city (for example London). The game is less complex than the actual city, but retains some key characteristics and behaviors.
- To an external observer, the outcome of a simulations appears as narrative. However, gamers feel like they are experiencing events first hand (cf. Koster’s observation on experiential teaching).
- Narrative (=a story) works bottom-up: it induces general rules from a particular case. Simulation is top-down: it applies general rules to a particular event.
- Are simulations superior to stories? Simulation allows experimentation of complex dynamic systems (for example, driving a car).
Let’s discuss reality, representation and simulation!
Have a look at the following three cases:
- Applying Koster’s and Frasca’s definitions, how would you distinguish between representation and simulation? Do you see any differences?
- As game technology becomes every day more sophisticated and can involve a player’s entire body (and senses), do you think games are pushing towards ignoring fiction and learning underlying patterns? Are stories just “side dishes” for the brain?
- Do good games make the player cry? What do you think about games that demand overcoming controversial moral challenges in order to get to the next level (for example, becoming a suicide bomber)?
- Can you think of cases where reality turns into simulation?
- As a teaching method, what do you consider superior: representation or simulation?
Raph Koster, The Core of Fun – Presentation at Etech
In this presentation for the 2007 O’Reilly Media Emerging Technology Conference, Koster continues his analysis and reveals the magic ingredients of a fun game.
- Games are made out of games: each micro-game or sub-activity must be entertaining!
- Different types of fun must be mixed in (typology according to Nicole Lazarro):
- Hard fun (the dominant characteristic of most games): you meet a challenge, figure out the pattern, and experiment until you master it
- Easy fun: moments of aesthetic delight
- Visceral fun: roller coaster stomach feeling
- Social fun: schadenfreude (= gloating feeling when a rival fails)
- All aspects of a game are important :
- Where and when? Context matters- platforms and past interactions influence the experience
- How? The more sophisticated skills are needed for the challenge, the better! Shopping on eBay is more fun than on Amazon. There should be also different tools (sword or arrow?)
- Which one? There should be a broad range of challenges.
- What for? Feedback is essential. Success must have different outcomes. In addition, gamers shouldn’t always get what they want; loosing is important, as fun results from learning.
- Against who? Gamers like multi-layer competition. They want to play against the game, against themselves and against each other.
- What do you think about Koster’s recipe for fun? Take a game you like and think it through. Which elements give you endorphin flashes?
- In his presentation, Koster criticizes social media. Yes, they are fun, but are they driving to participation? Let’s think again about Clay Shirky’s ideas on organizing without organizations. Are collaborative actions an interface problem, or in other terms, should they be more fun?
Alexander R. Galloway and Mushon Zer-Aviv, Kriegspiel booklet
The open source computer game Kriegsspiel is based on Guy Debord‘s 1978 board game called “The Game of War.” Debord, situationist, filmmaker and author of the Society of Spectacle, was disillusioned with the possibilities of cinema and representation, and turned toward the field of simulation.
Debord’s conceptual game design involves both elements of classic warfare inspired by Napoleon and Clausewitz, as well as postmodern war strategics, like “counter-insurgency, urban conflict, the growing inability to distinguish between civilians and enlisted soldiers” (inspired by the Algerian war).
Kriegsspiel reinterprets Debord’s game, translating it from French to Java, and integrating contemporary “network-centric warfare,” in which “soldiers are reorganized into flexible, interconnected pods, and networks themselves are deployed as weapons on the battlefield.”
Debord believes that the game “reproduces the totality of factors that deal with war, and more generally the dialectic of all conflicts.” According to Tosca, game simulations work by a top-down approach. However, Galloway and Zer-Aviv point out that “games are both abstract totality and empirical practice. A game designer is always a legislator, an enforcer, but a game player is always something of a hacker.”
- Is Debord’s approach still an effective way to study the nature of conflict? What do you think about network-centric warfare (connectivity as a kind of weapon)?
- Playing the game in the 1970′s required a pen and a pencil, with Kriegspiel, the computer establishes a set of rules. Do you see differences in the thinking and learning process?
It seems that there delicious doesn’t work properly on our blog, so here are the links to articles that could be interesting for our class discussion:
Piano Stairs- TheFunTheory. Can we change people’s behaviour for the better by making it fun to do?
Modern Warfare 2- video game keeps players hooked: Short video that breaks with some gamer stereotypes. Interview with gamers that are sportive, have girlfriends and make 10.000USD on gaming!
CNN.com- He married a video game character. A gamer so loves his video game that he married a character in the game.
A Rape in Cyberspace. This article by Julian Dibbells analyzes the repercussions of a “cyberrape” in a multi-player computer game called LambdaMOO (for those who haven’t read it in the MCC course).
Controversial video game mimics one of the deadliest battles in Iraq. Developers and marines are working on part game, part documentary called ‘Six Days in Fallujah.’
‘Shoot an Iraqi‘ : Artist Wafaa Bilal talks about his project called ‘Domestic Tension’.
We’re deep in Travelogue 4 with some really fascinating researches proposed and some very interesting ideas for uses of the media. The rich posts are sometimes more time consuming, both on the producer and the consumer, so I want us to have enough time to explore and comment on them. That’s why I will do two things: Firstly, we will take an extra week for this travelogue, so feel free to dig deeper and not yet conclude your research next week. Second, I recommend you guys to post by Sunday (preferably earlier) and leave Monday and Tuesday for commenting. Here are some optional deadlines:
By Sunday: Post your new rich travelogue post. Remember, the content needs to be mainly non textual. By that I mean, non-typed posts. Verbal podcasts are legit. Including transcripts is more than recommended.
By Classtime: Comment on at least 4 posts. Rich comments are also legit (though not a must).
Next Week’s Topic
- Book Excerpt: “A Theory of Fun for Game Design” – What Games Aren’t / Raph Koster
- SIMULATION 101: Simulation versus Representation / Gonzalo Frasca
- Nadine’s Summery + 1 comment (at least)
(Very) Recommended Listening:
- The Core of Fun – Presentation at Etech / Raph Koster
- Kriegspiel booklet – by Alexander R. Galloway and Mushon Zer-Aviv
- Read the two articles and listen to the talk.
- (if you want) Highlight and annotate the article to help its accessibility for the rest of you (one § highlights shift can include more than a single highlight range).
- Summarize it for us in a nicely accessible post to be published by Sunday 4pm, ideally running some threads between them.
- Be prepared to present the article and lead the discussion in class.
- Post to del.icio.us some links that expand the discussion either about the text or about key themes in it.
“Yes, PLEASE Capcom! Please make a iPhone version! Because that’s what everyone demanded! NO ONE asked for a PSP, DS, or godforbid, a WII version of the game! Thanks a lot! I don’t care if you worked on the control scheme alot, I’ve tested iPhone games for months, and they all control horrendously. I especially love how your thumbs would cover half the screen! Awesome!”
Here started my journey to become a well versed, knowledgeable “gamer girl.” The purpose? To determine the hype around Street Fighter IV hitting the iPhone, as well as determining whether or not the iPhone was attempting to position itself to be the next big portable gaming system, and finally to assess what gaming consumers thought of all this hoopla. And, of course, to also play some badass games along the way!
My adventure started after hearing that Capcom was to be releasing their highly acclaimed Street Fighter IV to the iPhone. Being a newbie to the gaming world, my initial thoughts were, “well that’s interesting- is this the first time a more traditional game is making its way to the iPhone?” After some research, I discovered that while Street Fighter is not to be the first full-fledged iPhone game, it is the first one to be built from the ground, up specifically for Apple’s device; the game was not ported over from another gaming system (Gaming Dictionary 101: “Port” (n.; pôrt) 1.When a game is rewritten to be compatible with another operating system/console).
While I’ve played Street Fighter in my younger years, I did not know enough about it to fully assess what this game coming to the iPhone meant without doing some thorough investigating. After talking to gamers and visiting forums, I quickly learned that the game using virtual controls (as opposed to the traditional physical control pad) was a big deal, as for the more advanced players, the game is heavily dependent on controls. This nonetheless left many questions for gamers: Would the virtual controls be “good” enough? Would the player be able to operate the character to the extent that physical controls allow? To my surprise (and probably also to the surprise of many hardcore gamers), Charles Onyett, a writer for IGN, mentioned that he was impressed with the game, noting that it is, “pretty, functional, and coming out in March.” As of now, the game has yet to be released.
This wasn’t the only big portable gaming news to be released during my past two weeks as a gamer girl, though. Some important highlights included: Sony to release a PSP phone and tablet, a representative from Nintendo comments that the company isn’t worried about Apple, and Resident Evil 4: for Beginners & Final Fantasy I & II were released on the iPhone.
So, the corporate gaming companies seem to be accepting the iPhone as a viable gaming device, and Apple is making a demonstrable effort to penetrate this gaming community. That’s nice. But, what about the actual gamers? Will they buy into this? The gaming community tends to be very brand loyal. Will Apple be accepted in this Sony and Nintendo dominated community? My adventure continued to Level 2: Realm of the Forums, with my “stages” of choice including: IGN, NewGrounds, G4TV, and Capcom-Unity.
The battles were rough, and unexpected to my initial thoughts, no clear winner emerged. What the results essentially came down to were 3 categories: the believers, non-believers, and agnostics.
“the iphone is the stupidest system there is, its more of a little novelty system than a gaming system so how can you want a portable sf4 iphone game as compared to psp, or wii which’s motion controls would make for a good game if done correctly…iphone is not a console…”
While the above quote is a little more straight forward than the one mentioned in the beginning of this article, they both say the same thing: the iPhone is no more than a phone; it is not meant to be a portable gaming system. This was the standard stance of the non-believer. This thought process usually wasn’t based on concrete evidence of any sort, though. It simply seemed that the non-believer was steadfast to their loyalty to the “traditional” gaming companies of Nintendo and Sony. To them, the Nintendo DS and Sony PSP were the equivalent of portable gaming; Apple was the equivalent of phones and computers; there could be no overlap.
“I think it is great news that it’s [Street Fighter] going to be the iPhone, think about it. How long do you think it will be before your portable gaming device is your phone, mp3 player, web browser, etc. I know this is true for some people already, but I’m talking about HD graphics, smooth online play, and AAA titles, all on your phone. Imagine if SSFIV was coming to iPhone, fully functional, with new bluetooth Fight Sticks with 0 Latency, and your new iPhone6G has the standard HD projector on it. We’re talking about SSFIV, big scree, with fight stick, anywhere you want to go. You could throw a tournament at the beach with a bonfire, get a bunch of white screens, set up your phones and play. This is why I’m glad it’s on iPhone, it’s a great big step in the right direction.”
On the other hand, those who were excited about playing more traditional games on the iPhone seemed to better understand the phone’s potential; they knew the raw power (in the sense of RAM) that the phone had, even stating that it was more powerful than the Wii home console system. Because of this, they knew that the device could support detailed graphics, and with the right programming and design, could successfully mimic the traditional physical control in virtual form. Hence, those of the “believer” seemed to be more educated on the actual device of the iPhone.
“I love my iPhone. I think it CAN do games, but the on-screen control thing is annoying. Get me a game dock and it’s on.”
The agnostics were skeptical, but within reason. They thought the iPhone had potential, but just didn’t feel like the device was quite there yet. As stated in the quote above, the idea of a physical control pad add-on was a significant selling point for many agnostics. It seemed like they were just waiting for a more direct, observable push to make Apple a viable gaming system.
After interacting with gamers about the iPhone as a gaming system, I was particularly interested in seeing what gamers thought of Sony coming out with a phone version of their PSP. I thought this could very well be the answer gamers were looking for. For the most part, this seemed true! After looking through comments on articles from a variety of sites, there was an general overall consensus of excitement.
“Finally a true all in one gaming phone with PSP graphics. Now thats worth my dollars, why have multiple devices in your pocket. CANT WAITE…. “
It will be interesting to see how quickly Sony tries to release their PSP Phone and PSPad. Will the phone be released before Apple’s next iPhone update? Will the PSPad come out soon after Apple’s release of their iPad (which is to be released on April 3rd)?
When it comes to an all-in-one device, it seems to be that the gaming portion of the device is the most important aspect for the avid gamer (and that “gaming” = a specific device made for the activity, vs. a phone that can also play games). Hence, since the average gamer tends to be very brand loyal, I am sure they will be waiting for the PSP Phone with open arms (granted that it matches, or surpasses, the standards the iPhone set). But, for the average consumer that likes to play games every once in a while, Apple’s iPhone looks like it will be providing some entertaining opportunities in the future.
Only time will tell who and what the consumer will choose; the decision is ultimately in their hands. In the meantime, I’ll personally be waiting to see when/if Nintendo will be more distinctly joining the fight!
“At this writing, there are 30,000 games for the iPhone and iPod touch. That’s more than the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and Wii libraries combined. (And even then, you still have over 25,000 games to go.)”
And so starts the first ever list of “Top 25 iPhone Games” from gaming site IGN, posted just a month ago on January 29, 2010. Reset to today: games released on the iPhone are beginning to get much more sophisticated than those mentioned on IGN’s 1st iPhone gamining list, with games now resembling those that can be found on Sony’s PSP and Nintendon’s DS. Here’s the latest in iPhone & gaming news from this week:
- March 1st
- March 2nd
- Nintendo’s top U.S. marketing and sales executive states they’re not afraid of Apple & will be coming out with an update to their portable system, DS on March 28th
- FingerGaming.com released this week’s top grossing game apps, with Final Fantasy I in 1st place
- March 4th
Big gaming companies are continuing to support the iPhone in Apple’s venture to become a viable gaming platform. But, just because so says the “almighty powers that be within gaming,” doesn’t necessarily mean the gaming consumer community will oblige. Much to my surprise, though, as I’ve traversed the gaming world these past couple of weeks, I have found quite an array of answers, leaving me not only waiting for Apple’s next move, but the consumers’ next move, as well.
This week, I delved into the community of gaming, armed with a plethora of questions to pose to gamers. I embedded myself on popular gaming websites, specifically in their discussion forums and on the comments section of articles. Specifically, websites included: IGN, G4TV, Capcom-Unity, and NewGrounds. In addition to the gaming websites, I also used Twitter. I gathered some interesting input on what people’s barriers to interest were on the iPhone as a gaming platform.
During my time as a gaming girl, I received a spectrum of responses. It seemed that the gaming community was moderately split on the subject. There were those who were staunchly opposed, and these nay-sayers seemed to have a couple of recurring issues with the iPhone. One of these issues, as I expected, was the touch screen. Others were simply not inclined to accept a phone as a gaming handheld, and their attitude could be characterized as them thinking it to be a preposterous proposition: how can a PHONE (and a touch screen phone, at that) be a GAMING SYSTEM? (quote is below if can’t view from link- the tweet was protected.)
“I am sure it can handle, but it’s suppose to be a dam phone not a gaming system” -@drumerguy via Twitter
On the positive side of the community, gamers seemed to express a mixture of excitement and ambivalence, but generally an optimistic “wait and see” approach. Those that believed in the iPhone for gaming purposes seemed to have a more technical knowledge base of the device- they knew of the phone’s potential from a hardware standpoint.
I was surprised by how difficult it was to evoke dialogue within the gaming forums, which left me a little disappointed at times. But, when it came to commenting on articles posted on gaming websites, readers were very quick to comment and express their opinion (with one article I commented on having 2,539 comments!). While there were exceptions, it seemed like gamers were more inclined to criticize articles written by website journalists than they were to provide their own insights to raw questions on forums.
People’s answers gave me some insight, but also raised questions about the sincerity of their statements. For example, did these gamers genuinely assess the iPhone and determined that it was an unacceptable means by which to play games, or were they biased by their blind loyalty to Nintendo and Sony? Furthermore, I’d like to know if these responses will be different in 6 months because of simply a passage of time or a potential introduction of a button peripheral.
Looking at the online gaming community as a whole also left me with a few questions. Namely, why is it that gamers were more quick to comment on articles than they were to comment on forums (it’s also important to note that on forums, the amount of people who viewed a post was always considerably higher than those who actually responded)? Is it because these articles gave gamers an opportunity to quickly vent about the topic at hand? If this is true, then it’s possible that the responses were biased towards those who felt strongly enough to complain.
From an overall, long-term perspective, a big question that kept recurring to me as I dug deeper and deeper into gaming was whether or not the iPhone would fuel gaming innovation. This comes not just from the standpoint of games being introduced to the device, but also from whether or not Apple will push Sony and Nintendo to come out with better, cheaper systems. For instance, while a representative from Nintendo stated in an interview this past Tuesday that they’re not afraid of Apple, the company will be releasing a cheaper, larger handheld (the DSi XL, possibly to be in competition with the iPad?) on March 28th. Seems like this news contradicts the Nintendo representative’s statement, to me!
Last week, when I first started researching the portable gaming environment, one of the first places I started digging for information was at www.latestpatents.com, a site that lists out the latest patents of leading technology companies. While looking up Sony, I noticed that their list of patents from February 18th seemed to be dealing with a new phone. This, I did not think much of. What I did find particularly interesting, though, was a patent they had for a, “universal game console controller.” I thought that maybe they were making some sort of physical controller that could be used to play games on phones? But, in the end, thought that we wouldn’t be hearing too much information on these patents any time soon.
Today, while searching on IGN, it seems that I might have been mistaken. The gaming site posted an article stating that Sony might possibly be putting out a phone and tablet to rival the Apple iPhone and iPad. Furthermore, there is said to be a special Sony Online Service that is to be launched by the end of March. Could this be their version of the Apple App Store, but instead to be full of traditional games?
This will definitely be a telling story to watch unravel, and I’m interested to see if the device will match the patents listed on LatestPatents.com!
After reading and researching Apple and gaming further, it seems pretty clear to me that Apple is trying to make a push to enter the portable gaming world with its iPhone/iPod/iPad devices. There have been a handful of news articles concerning portable gaming and the iPhone since Capcom mentioned that Street Fighter will be coming to iPhone. Here’s my blog that more specifically details these stories as further background information. Two of the highlights include:
- Resident Evil 4: for Beginners was released to the iPhone on February 17th
- Final Fantasy I & II were released for the iPhone on February 25th
With these articles in mind, and since iPhone hasn’t overtly made a jump into the gaming world yet, I would like to use Web 2.0 to research and determine how consumers feel about the iPhone as a feasible gaming platform. I am looking to embed myself in the “gaming world” through traditional sources, like news media, as well as becoming an active member on gaming websites and forums, where I can talk to gamers and determine the overall point of view of the iPhone as a legitimate portable gaming platform. I also plan to download and play a few iPhone games, so that I may competently discuss them on the forums. Twitter will also be beneficial to my purpose of gaining information (I tweet for a horror film website; in my experience with horror, the genre of horror and that of gaming tend to overlap, with there being a shared interest in these two topics amongst those who follow either or both).
Those involved in the gaming culture are very “cliquey” and loyal to certain games and platforms; gamers tend to form emotional attachments to their brand/company of choice, ie, Sony, Microsoft, Nintendo. For instance, even though I am not a gamer, I have grown up with my brother first playing Sega and then migrating to Playstation, and from there Playstation 2 and 3. Because of his loyalty to Playstation, I have also formed a certain affinity with the brand. Because of my own experience, I would anticipate that self-identified gamers would have an even stronger attachment to their system of choice. I’ve also observed that gaming websites arrange their forums/message boards into console-specific areas. So, I would expect that within these sites, you would find people discussing and debating different topics with a loyalty to said console . I would also imagine that this hypothesized loyalty to their brand of choice will make it difficult to persuade gamers to migrate to Apple’s iPhone as a new gaming platform.
Before, people had to purchase various personal portable items separately: $200 for a phone, $200 for an mp3 player, $200 for a portable DVD player, $200 for a portable gaming system, etc… Now, Apple is creating the opportunity for all these devices to be consolidated into one platform: the iPhone. In some of their TV advertisements, Apple even specifically states the idea of having all information in one place, at your fingertips. Most recently, this opportunity to consolidate has expanded into gaming, with interest amongst 3rd party game developers. But, will gaming consumers show this same support? I’ll keep you updated as I traverse the gaming sphere!
Hey everyone! I just wanted to give you an update on breaking news concerning portable gaming/the iPhone before I posted my question and initial assumptions about the culture of the gaming environment. Question to follow soon!
- February 17th: Two days after news hit that Street Fighter is to be released on the iPhone, Capcom made gaming news, yet again, by announcing its immediate release of Resident Evil 4 to the platform. The entire game wasn’t released, though. Rather, this game was specifically geared towards “beginners,” being rightfully dubbed “Resident Evil 4: for Beginners” for only $0.99. With this no-commitment, immediate release, maybe Capcom is attempting to warm up non-gamers and gamers alike to the idea of playing traditional games on the iPhone?
- February 21st: Apple announced that it increased iPhone 3G’s app download limit from 10MB to 20MB. Previously, iPhone users who wanted to download an app larger than 10MB had to switch over to a WiFi connection. Maybe Apple is gearing up for some bigger file-sized games to be coming to the App Store (Resident Evil: Degeneration has a file size of 13.6MB & Final Fantasy I has a file size of 72.1MB)?
- February 22nd (1): OnLive (a yet-to-be-released subscription gaming service that allows you to stream & play games on a personal device from remote computer hardware) announced that their demo of the game Crysis being played on the iPhone ran, “fast and smooth.” Typically, Crysis requires super high-end computer hardware to run, usually costing $3,000+. OnLive also mentioned running their app on “tablets”…iPad to be their next adventure? Gamers having the option of subscribing to a service where they can stream games on a multitude of platforms could mean a whole new direction for Apple (and gaming platforms in general). Here’s more on how the “cloud gaming” console works.
- February 22nd (2): IGN.com released a “first impressions” article about Street Fighter IV for the iPhone, with video shots of the reviewer, Charles Onyett, playing the game. Overall, he was impressed with it, saying that it’s “pretty, functional, and coming out in March.” He also mentioned that the game was created in a way that both beginners to the game, as well as avid Street Fighter fans, will have an enjoyable experience, noting that there are certain difficulty functions that can be turned on and off.
- February 25th: Final Fantasy I & II are released on the iPhone. While these are only PSP (Playstation Portable) games that were ported (rewritten to be compatible with another operating system, while the actual game, for the most part, stays the same) over to the iPhone, since they are such well-known, iconic games (in IGN’s review, they called Final Fantasy “not just a videogame,” but an “institution”), it’s been a legitimate discussion topic on gaming sites and forums. Furthermore, there was talk about Final Fantasy I & II coming to the iPhone previously, but there never seemed to be a set date for when it was to be released. So, did Square Enix (the company that makes Final Fantasy) see that Capcom was releasing Street Fighter and decide that now would be as good of a time as ever to release the game?
It’s interesting to see how things have developed since Capcom’s mention that Street Fighter will be coming to iPhone. I haven’t followed gaming in the past (before this week) to know if there was a significant change in talk about portable gaming, but it seems as if there has, at the very least, been a steady flow of developments concerning iPhone as a portable gaming system.
GPS, MP3s, Telecommunication…can Apple integrate yet another market into it’s iPhone? Nobody knows for sure as of yet, but it certainly seems that a new trend has slowly been emerging on the iPhone – video games. It started innocuously enough with simple pick-up-and-play type games made by small companies and indie developers. And, if iPhone users did want to tap into more in-depth gaming, many times they had to “jailbreak” their iPhone. But, over the past few months, well-known developers have slowly been revealing plans for and releasing bigger budgeted games on par with those traditionally seen on dedicated gaming handhelds produced by companies with established video game market share- namely, Nintendo and Sony with their DS and PSP, respectively. Furthermore, Apple has been allegedly bringing gaming experts into the company. The implications were there in the past, but this week seemed to have more concretely defined where the iPhone might go next.
This past week, big game developer Capcom proved to up the ante for the gaming industry with its game Street Fighter IV set to be released for the iPhone this coming March. What makes this release different from past big game releases on the iPhone, such as Resident Evil: Degeneration, is the fact that Street Figher IV was “no quickie, banged-out port” (port = when a manufacturer simply rewrites a game’s code for a different operating system). Rather, it was specifically made for the iPhone from the ground, up, with visually stimulating graphics and an iPhone specific virtual pad. Furthermore, Capcom completely avoided developing this game for the more traditional, well-known systems (Nintendo DS and PSP); Street Fighter IV was first released on the home consoles Playstation 3 and Xbox 360 a year ago, and is now going straight to the iPhone for the portable version.
There are many implications that come with such a well-known gaming manufacturer so clearly and strategically investing in the iPhone as a new operating system. Will Capcom be the only gaming company that sees iPhone as a viable new gaming portal? Or, will others soon follow their lead? Furthermore, do avid gamers see the iPhone as an operating system they are willing to invest in themselves? For instance, a positive gaming experience can very much be a result of the system’s control pad. Will gamers enjoy this virtual game pad and look to see it recreated in other iPhone games, or will they reject it as not up to par with the traditional physical version?
While I might not be able to report back on how well Street Fighter IV for iPhone sells and is or is not accepted by the gaming community (since it’s not coming out until some time in March), I would like to research and explore how the gaming community, from both the producer and consumer side, reacts to this said course of action. I’d like to explore the questions above, as well as the following: How open is Apple to established gaming manufacturers making such in-depth games? What does this mean for the indie developers? Will Capcom follow up with announcing more games specifically made for the iPhone in due time (ie, does the company already have other games in the works that it will soon release, as well)? Or, will they wait and see how Street Figher IV does in the App Store before investing more money? If iPhone catches on as a viable gaming device, what does this mean for the future of traditional gaming systems?
While I do not anticipate answering all of these questions, these are topics I will keep in mind and explore while I travel through the gaming sphere. I plan on researching the questions through a number of different means: news articles, forum discussion boards on well-known gaming sites (www.ign.com, www.gamespot.com, & http://g4tv.com), talking to gamers, and trying out some current iPhone games, myself. I’m also open to any ideas you guys might have!
Hey everyone! I have 2 ideas I’ve been contemplating for the next travelogue, and wanted to get your opinion. The first has to do with Kevin Smith and Southwest Airlines. The second, with portable gaming. More info below:
1) Kevin Smith vs. Southwest Airlines
This past weekend, film director/writer Kevin Smith was allegedly kicked off of a Southwest Airlines flight for being too heavy. Since then, there has been a heated back-and-forth between Smith and Southwest on the Internet, being carried out on Twitter, in blogs, and on various websites. Especially with Kevin’s film Cop Out hitting theaters next week, and his interest in possibly crowdsourcing his horror genre debut film Red State, I thought it would be interesting to see how this further plays out over the next few weeks. Check out this NY Magazine article for more information.
2) The future of portable gaming
Just a few days ago, Capcom, a major game developer for traditional game consoles, revealed a visually stunning version of the hit game Street Fighter IV for the iPhone that will be available in the App Store in March. This game is created to the standard that has been present on traditional portable game consoles, as opposed what has been frequently seen up until this point on cell phones (casual, low-budget games). With this introduction, I’d be interested to see how other 3rd party game companies respond over the next few weeks, and whether or not others reveal their own plans to develop full-fledged games for iPhones, rather than exclusively for Nintendo and Sony portables. Check out this article for more info about Street Fighter IV hitting the iPhone.