games

The Future of Hint Books

by

I love hint books for video games.  Sure they're fun to get help on a game, but they're also chocked full of interesting details on the game, extra tips, and even instructions superior to the game manual.  They usually boast good production values as well – the really good ones are a pleasure to read and thumb through.  I think my love of hint books is easy to understand.

As I'm quite fond of hint books, I've noticed some trends that makes me wonder what the future of these large, beautiful guides is:

  • Downloadable content in gaming means more games coming out.  With the speed-to-market of games, with more choices to write hint books for, how will companies that make them choose?
  • eBooks.  It's rather obvious that more and more people are reading books in electronic format.  This is great to save trees, but are people going to keep their iPads on their laps to read their hint books while playing the X-box?
  • The internet.  Go to http://www.gamefaqs.com/ and you can get a lot of information for free on games.  It may not be as big or beautiful as some of the truly elegant books, but it's there for the reading.  Sites like GameFaqs also support communities so you can ask and answer highly specific questions.

So between more games, people getting used to electronic access of books, and the free online services used by people to get their game-hint fix, what is the future of Hint Books?  As you may guess, I'm going to attempt to answer this because it's a geekonomic area, and an area of career interest – besides for some of you hopeful writers out there, it might give you some career ideas.

Read more

Epic Handhelds

by

I have Dragon Quest IX on my DS.  If you're not familiar with the series, they're epic Japanese RPGs with their own style.  Dragon Quest VIII on the PS2 had an incredible amount of gameplay – I put 80 hours into playing it.  From everything I've seen in DQ IX, and everything I hear, this tiny cartridge is packed with as much content as the PS2 disc.

For people not familiar with gaming, handhelds like the DS may not seem to be the place for epic games that last 40, 50, or more hours.  It's too easy to assume portable gaming is casual gaming.

Of course this isn't true.  Handheld gaming gave us Pokemon, games people could put hundreds of hours into playing.  There are epic RPGs for various handhelds, from Golden Sun to Shin Megami Tensi: Strange Journey.  Hand-held gaming has had epic for quite some time.

However, as I've played Dragon Quest IX, which proves to be more addicting than its' predecessor, I've started to speculate that epics are not only well-suited to handhelds, they may be an ideal place for them in the future.

Read more

Product Idea: Casual Roguelikes

by

So, casual games.  Let's all admit it, a lot of us probably play them to one extent or another, even if we don't want to admit it.  They're everywhere, they sell, they get attention.  Between the acceptance, the niche they feel, and the money they make, they're here to stay.

Of course, as I write this, some casual games seem all alike.  There's jewel-matching and other puzzles, some simple sims, and a handful of other genres.  So I'd like to look at a genre that is sometimes associated with hardcore games that would be perfect for incarnation in the casual genre.

Roguelikes.

Read more