Guy is intelligent and his points well thought out. It's almost like Malstrom's stuff from a gamer's point of view.
The parallels between this and the comic book crash are uncanny. And the speculators and collectors could have cared less about the future of their medium until it was too late to save it.
If I make make a distinct comparison between the collector/speculator comic fan and hardcore videogamers and a houseguest from Billy Ray Valentine's brownstone in Philadelphia.
In the movie Trading Places, Billy Ray Valentine comes into money via the schemes of a pair of brother brokers to see if changing a man's environment could lead him to change his behaviors and attitudes. Thus, the homeless Billy Ray Valentine is taken from the streets and takes the place of Louis Winthorpe III, a wealthy man. The first thing the classless Bill Ray does is invite all of his acquaintances from the streets and bars he frequented and throws a lavish party. Things proceed as planned and everybody is happy with the party.
Until the guests start putting the cups on the tables without coasters, leaving trash all over the place, barfing in his bedroom, running prostitution businesses inside the home, and the ubiquitous putting out of Kools on his floor. (they're cigarettes) This causes Billy Ray to suddenly see his houseguests as freeloaders. What do the houseguests feel? They are having the time of their lives! They have full run of the house and everything is open to them and for them. They don't want the party to end!
So why does Billy Ray angrily throw them out? Because they are ruining his house, no matter how happy they are and how little they care at the moment. Now it's only a few cigarette butts mashed into the carpet. But soon, as the party goes as, things will deteriorate and deteriorate until the house is nearly uninhabitable, much less worthy of having guests over. And even those filthy louts won't want to stay over and will troll the next house's party.
Every hardcore, super HD-graphic FPS and Action game that is DEMANDED and flops and/or loses money due to low sales and high development costs is another Kool being put out on the floor. Some companies are already struggling hard and some names that were big only 3 years ago will be acquired like another brand name or go bankrupt. We don't like to think that some of us may be responsible when we demand increased sophistication and sneer at new ideas, new games, new IPs (which hardcore demand and then don't buy), but it is very well possible that we are. It is not a call to lower your standards, but a a call to realize those standards were forged on the very games being sneered at.
Another link between videogames and comic books is the request for "new IP." If you were a DC comics artist and storywriter and somebody says they are tired of Superman and want a new comic IP, the first thing they would do is totally deconstruct Superman and make something totally unique. So the result would probably a Sunday Funnies comic strip about a car mechanic.
Confused? I'll use Japanese comics as an example. The author of some broody samurai action series with lots of blood spillage would probably... say... pen a comic about a baker wanting the perfect loaf of bread. That's what "New IP" means.
However that's obviously not what the comic fan wants. He wants something like Shazam, which is just Superman "with a twist." In game terms this is like Miyamoto spearheading Nintendogs, and Wii Sports in reaction to wants of "New IP." That's obviously not what the comic fans and game fans meant, but if they truly stated their wishes of "Having a comic like Punisher except he rips the genitals out of criminals" or "Having a game like Mario but have the protagonist be a a cybernetic female with attitude and baditude," they would rightfully be seen as entitled tools.
Topic: Worth a watch/listen... (Read 9222 times)
