Just added a new category “Much Needed” and this is my first post in it. This category will focus on things that the gaming industry needs to create. This installment of Much Needed will focus on additional peripherals in gaming.
It seems like ever since Dunk Hunt came out no gaming peripheral has been able to compete until the guitar of Guitar Hero. What is happening in the gaming industry that no other interesting control schemes can be created? One thing that comes to mind is a “Mech” type game that required a $120 joystick/control system to play. I wonder if this cost barrier is the main reason we don’t see more interesting peripherals.
With a game like Rock Band you can appeal to a huge audience including non gamers. However, with a joystick and “Mech” game you’re still limited to people who play games often. Then in addition to that you’re limited to the gamers who can afford such a setup. This is basically adults or spoiled children which is probably a smaller market (currently) than the casual child/teen gamer.
I could definitely stand to see some new interesting controllers especially when it comes to PC games. I’d like some kind of Wii type aiming system that incorporates movement as well. I have to imagine a title like this would be cheap to produce and sell extremely well considering the PC market has essentially zero peripherals other than the keyboard/mouse/joystick.
More and more titles are releasing full new games instead of DLC for their existing games that have the exact same functionality. The worst offender of this is Rock Band and Guitar Hero as you could probably have guessed. They add more songs, some background videos, and suddenly you’re expected to pay another $60 for this? These should be getting released as $20-$30 content packs for the original titles.
It’s really a shame to see gaming companies doing this but it’s even more sad that gamers are willing to put up with it and buy small upgrades as if they’re entirely new games. This ties into why I hate consoles in general though. If these games were on PC there would simply be modding communities churning this stuff out for free. By keeping it on consoles they’re allowed to get away with this robbery and the people tied to consoles eat it up because there are less titles for them since console developers are split between choosing which of 3 consoles to develop for.
The Nintendo Wii is seriously lacking games that will attract so called “hardcore gamers.” This is causing them to miss out on a huge share of the video game market. However, they’ve almost created an entirely new untapped market of casual gamers and fitness nuts. I can’t even remember how many older people I’ve heard tell me they’re getting a Wii for Wii Fit. It’s really surprising to me that so many people are willing to invest around $300 for something they could easily do without any electronics at all. In fact, you could probably get a better workout by NOT using the Wii Fit than you can with it.
Lately I’ve seen a lot of people arguing over which console system is the best. Why is it that these people are blind to the truth that all consoles are bad for gamers? What they offer is a way for companies to ensure you’re paying for their games by making them hard to pirate, a way to market new products to you, and a way to bleed you for monthly service charges, etc. There’s really nothing good about them for consumers.
