I could start this post off with a partisan political slam, but that’s not what this site is about, so I won’t.
Instead, I will hint about it and borrow Stephen Colbert’s concept of
because this about something I can’t prove, but it just feels right.
Allow me to begin with an image:
It's better that swallowing pennies.
What you see is a computer generated image of my gut feeling that video games may soon go the way of the cinema.
By that I don’t mean they will soon become megaplexes that take over strip malls and shut down at the earliest signs of ticket sale decline.
No, instead I feel that as new games become easier and easier to produce and replicate, the quality will decrease.
As of right now, according to some random person the video game industry releases 30 major releases per year. That’s less than one per week.
Hollywood, on the other hand, releases at least one movie per week, and usually it’s more than that. According to another random source, in 2007, there were 453 movies made. That’s the amount of movies produced, and not necessarily released, but you can see the vast difference.
Now back to the gaming market. Of those alleged “truthy” 30 games – even if there were 100 – that’s not taking into account the new outlets available. The iPhone/iPod Touch. Android devices. The Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft marketplaces. Games are being released at alarming rates, and what happens when that, um, happens?
I’ll put it in movie terms.
For every Inception, you’ll get Yogi Bear, The Last Airbender, Jonah Hex, Eat Prey Love, The Killers…
I miss the old days of the anticipation for the newest Zelda game (wait we still do) or the next Super Mario (ditto).
The long and the short of it is… creative industry insiders should take their time to make one solid film/game versus ten mediocre ones. Let’s get back to The Shit, and far away from Just Shitty.
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