People are so crazy about “spoilers” these days. I’ve seen and read a bunch about UbiSoft’s new videogame Assassin’s Creed and I was semi-excited. It’s looks nice, the free running is cool but I’m really not that driven by the ability to run over an entire world, especially one from the Middle-Ages. Castles just ain’t my thing. However, the people I work with are going gaga over it.
But there was this ‘twist’ that many people were talking about but UbiSoft was trying very hard not to leak. It has kept me interested in the game for some time.
Then I saw the following video.
And now I have to play it. Is this how marketing works?
I’m in the middle of web design/development on a new app that borrows a few things from game design. I’ve been thinking a lot about what tools are worth borrowing and what I can borrow (in other words what makes sense to borrow).
This article does a nice job of laying out what elements from games are already present in a number of web 2.0 elements some of which I’m including in my new app, some of which I’m deliberately keeping out. Either way, it’s a really fascinating read
In case you haven’t been following the gaming press, there’s a ton of love floating around for the Irrational Games’ new FPS/Adventure/Horror game Bioshock.
Jessie Scanlon of Businessweek has a nice round-up of some of the interesting things happening on the fringes of the traditional gaming market which, strangely enough, might end up meaning that there’s more of a “mainstream” market there than in the Xboxes & PlayStations of the world.
Ultimately, I think it all depends on your definition of traditional gaming. If gaming is shooting aliens, big breasted heroines or even following down a near-linear path towards a larger goal, then you’re probably looking at a semi-limited market which will grow with those that grew up with gaming.
So yes, you’ll ultimately get the game that makes you cry and things like Halo will continue to mint millions as have traditional entertainments for thousands of years. This is just the natural evolution of our new entertainment tools.
However, if you broaden that definition of gaming to include the idea of “virtual play” or even further to the idea of “virtual life”, both of which are deeply rooted in the fundamentals of games, then the market for gaming is virtually limitless.
Potentially every social exchange we’ll have in the future will be influenced by the rules of games.
Also worth noting in this article: Raph Koster has a new company called Areae that I hadn’t heard about. And it sounds awesome.
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