Grrrrrl Power!

This isn't a surprise to anyone who's close to internet gaming, but just in case you're late to the party...

More Girls Get Into Gaming

Spend 10 minutes in ourWorld and you'll notice many, many, many girls. Whether they're gaming or socializing, that's hard to say, but they're online and MIGHTY! Go Girls!

Edit: A pretty common girl/boy ratio in ourWorld's Cake Mania Room (note: the guy is me)



-Adam

Kids Want Wine Coolers, Too!

The problem with the 'mainstream' media's coverage of video games is that they don't understand them. Never did. Possibly never will.

I love this quote from Take Two CEO Ben Feder in a recent interview discussing the gaming press' coverage of GTAIV:

"I think we've moved the debate from 'Okay, it's not a game, it's interactive entertainment,' and it's not for kids. It's not for kids.

Okay. The CEO of the company has made it clear it's not for kids. The gaming media's figured it out. Now, when will joe-sixpack-media outlet catch on? The game=kids product model has been broken. Shattered. It's long dead. Just because kids WANT something, doesn't mean it's made for them.

Note: Have you tried Smirnoff Ice Grape? Oh my sweet heavens, that is some yummy boozy stuff! I'm sure the average 12 year old would love it as much or more than God of War 2. It must be for kids! (No, no, it is not.)

-Adam!!!

Parents and Gaming

I just read a rather hum-drum article about how parents can keep up with the video games their kids play. The article starts like this:

Call it a generation gap or a digital divide, if you're a parent who is a little clueless about what video games are appropriate for your child, you are not alone.

Who are these parents who don't understand video games? I know I'm an unusual case, but seriously. EVERY SINGLE PARENT I KNOW PLAYS VIDEO GAMES, at least a little. Now, if you're a grandparent, you *might* be off the hook, though at 38 I'm technically old enough to be one of those myself (my kid is 7, so no worries.)

Video games turned to computer games in the 90's. Console games have remained essentially the same for the last decade. Mortal Kombat showed how violent games could be 18 years ago. Doom, the first modern 1st person shooter, appeared 15 years ago. Grand Theft Auto 2 is over 10 years old.

This isn't new people. The graphics are better, the stories are better, and the content is more complex. Not different, just evolved. Some really kick ass. Other suck. Some are appropriate for kids, some not so much. It's been this way for decades now.

How old are these kids we're worrying about? How old are their parents?

What's more likely is people writing articles about the "mysteries of gaming culture" don't get it. Media types understand the media, and little else (I understand gaming, and little else, I admit it.)

Just like the article says "Gaming is now an $18.8 billion part of the entertainment industry. You have to dig your head in the sand pretty deep to be ignorant of an industry as huge as gaming.

-Adam!!!

Two of my Favorite Things

From Kotaku

Gingerbread: Tapping the Casual Cake Market


I don't know if this makes me want to snack, or game. Aw heck, who needs to choose!

-Adam

Pros and Conventions

,The last major convention we attended supporting Clout was GenCon SoCal last November. The World of Warcraft CCG was being launched, and unsurprisingly they took most of the collectible gaming crowd away from the rest of us. Obviously those folks wanted to play the new 'hot' game. It was easy for the rest of us publishers, who were working just as hard as Upper Deck, to get a bit jealous. I know I was.

Since then I've had a lot of time to consider what makes company sponsored tournament and demo events successful for collectible games at conventions. The format is basically set in stone. Have as nice a booth as you can afford, running demos as quickly as you can for as many people as you can. Run full games in the provided gaming area as frequently as you can, keeping them as full as you can.

The formula is so standardized, the conventions themselves resist breaking out of the format (NO DEMOS IN THE TOURNAMENT AREA!)

If you are a small game publisher, I want to start by writing off the convention gaming areas. They are often crowded, often hot, designed to hold the maximum number of people at a minimum cost. The big players usually have fancy structures, props, and huge banners. The smaller companies have table and floor mounted signs, and sometimes...sometimes...their own tablecloths. If your a small company, you might as well advertise..."Our game is just like theirs, only with fewer players and less cool."

Smaller games need smaller venues. Better venues. Conventions are amazing at bringing gamers together. For standard games (cards, board, and rpgs) they utterly fail at providing a upper-tier game play environment. The average living room is far more comfortable. As a game-publisher, finding or creating an environment that is even better than a player can manage at home should be a priority. If anyone manages to combine a quality game with a quality setting, the results will be staggering.

-Adam!!!