Costikyan on E3

Just in case you actually read As I Please for commentary on gaming (don't laugh – at least one blogger lists me in his blogroll under the category of "Games"), I want to point you to Greg Costikyan's writeup of E3, the electronic gaming conference that just took place in Los Angeles. In his trenchant style, Greg takes on the dominance of licensed material in electronic games:

Out on the entrance hall floor is some classic muscle car; hired bimbos stand in front of it wearing dangerously short cut-off jeans and halter tops. Above it is a banner for the game they're promoting; the Dukes of Hazzard, forsooth. Only in the game industry would such a shit license find a home. Are the suits morons, or are they just desperate? Why in god's name would anyone think a fucking Dukes of Hazzard game is likely to outsell something half-way original?

(To give the Devil his due, one BK tells Greg in the comments that the first Dukes of Hazzard game was a piece of crap that was developed on a shoestring ... and sold something like one and a half million copies through Wal-Mart.)

Greg describes and analyzes the new generation of handheld gaming platforms (N-Gage QD, Nintendo DS, and Sony PSP) and the Infinium Phantom home console platform. And in a subsequent post he links to Gamespot's interview with security analyst Michael Pachter. Pachter corroborates Greg Costikyan's view that the plethora of sequels and licensed properties in the electronic gaming world are a sign of trouble.

GameSpot: Four days after the trumpet call that closes down E3, what do you recall most from the show?

Michael Pachter: Sequels, sequels, and more sequels. People just aren't taking any risk on new intellectual property (IP). Obviously there are some new games but very few.

GS: Is that an advisable tack at this stage in the consoles' cycles?

MP: Apparently that's what all the publishers seem to think.

GS: But from a financial perspective, does it make sense?

MP: The question is, how are consumers going to react? If consumers are fine with a bunch of Rambo 4s or Star Wars 6s at the movies, then fine. But I feel there's a point where sequels wear off. I think you still need to introduce new content to get people excited. I'm afraid that the [software] companies are being a bit too conservative.