(Week 5 - Violence) The GameOverthinker Thread.

[ChromeAlchemist]

[HEADING=1]The Official GameOverthinker Thread![/HEADING]

Welcome. At the request of Oliveira to 'stop congesting the forums' I decided to create a single thread for GameOverthinker videos and discussion. This is in the experimental stage, but I planned to cherry pick the videos and place them here periodically, placing each new one on the latest page and redirecting people from the front page to there. Hopefully it will work.

Spoiler: Week 1: Can It Happen To Us? Buried

First up, v11: Can it happen to us?

"A decade ago, a onetime "niche" industry for the young and the geeky "grew up," conquered the world... and then lost everything. The OverThinker remembers how it happened, and wants to know if the gaming biz is heading down the same path."


So people, Can it happen to us? What do you think?

P.S. Next I'm planning to put up one about women in gaming. Anyone who wants to watch all of his episodes can find them here www.gameoverthinker.blogspot.com . If you see an episode that you think would be interesting to talk about, or think I should just post these in chronological order, please let me know.

Week 2's discussion can be found here, all previous week's discussions will be buried unless a request is made to revive them:

Spoiler: week 2: sonic in Crisis. Buried

[HEADING=2]Week 2: Sonic In Crisis, Part I and II.[/HEADING]


http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/9.115047?page=3#2189633

Spoiler: Reality Sucks. Buried

[HEADING=2]Week 3: Reality Sucks[/HEADING]

This week Bob talks on the subject of overly-realistic graphics and why he think he finds them so tiresome lately. Short-version: Uncanny Valley. Long-version? See below:

http://screwattack.com/myvidsdontsuck/Semi1/OverThinker

Spoiler: Week 4: A Third Way? Buried

[HEADING=2]WEEK 4: A Third Way?[/HEADING]

The OverThinker on the mysterious Shigeru Miyamoto patent that's sent the gaming world into a fit of worried anticipation. ALSO: Order of Ecclesia love and uncomfortable Shanoa fixation.

[HEADING=2]WEEK 5: Violence[/HEADING]

So here it is folks, the big one. This week Bob talks about gaming violence in the public eye, and why we should fight with facts and intellect, rather than a contest of empty words.

http://screwattack.com/myvidsdontsuck/Final/TheGameOverThinker

Once again sorry for the lack of embed, I don't know how to do it for Screwattack videos. If anyone does please let me know.

 

[Fingerprint]

I'm afraid the guy has a point...

 

[WeedWorm]

Did the new Overthinker come out yet? The one after RE5?

Nope.

 

[TsunamiWombat]

It happens to all indie industry, get used to it. Happened to Nascar, happened to Anime, will happen to Games if it hasn't already. Doesn't mean our hobby will die, just...change.

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Excellent vid, though I disagree with the idea that the neglect of the youth will lead to a barren video game industry. Several gamers that I know started playing games during the Playstation era, which was responsible for the growth of 'mature' games throughout the various consoles. During this time, when games started to become more adult themed, they didn't shrink in growth, they grew. As a result of this, the core demographic for gamers nowadays is nowhere near as young as it used to be back in the SNES and Megadrive days and has shifted towards aiming for a teen market which, despite the focus upon more and more mature themes, it still is.

Kids LOVE violence. Always have, always will. When I was a kid I begged my parents to buy GTA for me and looked forward in eager anticipation to playing the uncensored Soldier of Fortune demo. The prime appeal of games isn't really story any more for the majority, it's for the spectacle of play. Games such as Halo 3 and CoD 4 are the equivalent of 12A rated movies which tap into the mainstream market to provide games which everyone from 12 year olds to 30 year olds can enjoy. Are they as iconic or as classicly appealing as the nostalgia that our generation has of Sonic or Mario? No, but they provide easily digestible mass-market entertainment which can be enjoyed by a wide range of audiences, in addition to there being darker games on the market that the older gamers can enjoy.

To end what was never meant to be a huge wall of text, since the core demographic has shifted more towards a teen-centric approach games are going to change but they aren't going to die. Instead, they are likely to become an even more mass-market entertainment option than television, which is in some ways good and in other ways (particularly to us 'core' gamers) bad.

Whew!

 

[WeedWorm]

Did the new Overthinker come out yet? The one after RE5?

Nope.

The wait for these episdes is brutal, but it's worth it.

Totally is. Ive been sub'd to him on youtube since one of his clips was first used on The Escapist.

He makes awesome points about whatever subject hes talking about and hes provablely better than the entire Sonic Team at writing storylines for games.

 

[SharPhoe]

This guy makes a really good point, I've gotta say. I'm looking forward to hearing more from him.

 

[ADGarner]

The price thing stuck out to me. I remember when I was a kid saving up money for a nintendo 64 and it took awhile but at least it was in reach. Families near the poverty line probably can't even consider some thing like the next gen consoles even if a young boy tried save his allowance.

 

[Susano]

I think the mistake that he is making is that he is assuming that no younger players will join the 'video game fan club'. As he said himself, the Wii is drawing in new "casual" gamers, young and old. Not only that, but I'm guessing that the majority of gamers are under 30, generally falling into the 12-18 category. That is why you get so many annoying kids(of which I am one ) on the mic and X-Box live.

So no, I don't think that the games industry will end up like the comic industry, because while the comic industry was appealing to men and women that were 30 something that were getting older, but not trying to attract the younger audience, the games industry is still attracting plenty of types, young and old. Not only that but the younger gamers are growing up with hero's like Master Chief, Gordon Freeman(maybe him not so much) and yes, even Mario and THAT is what will keep the system alive. Now all we have to deal with is the graphics problem...

 

[The_Deleted]

I see gaming becoming the next cinema and TV. It's not going anywhere. And we can thank Nintendo for that from the off. SONY & M$ may well jack it in, but there is always another company ready to plug a gap in the market. Probably Apple if it does happen. Comics are a very niche market, regardless. The Wii and DS have opened up gaming to a far bigger audience than comics ever will. So his analogy there was a little off.
Like movies, there will always be something for everyone and game development can't really get that much more realistic and hopefully the rise in costs will force programmers to become more imaginative with the designs.
Games won't go the way of the comic but they will have to broaden there appeal out side of the Beach Sports games and FPS. If you want to keep the market you have to keep them interested.

 

[oliveira8]

The main problem is not the industry renewing itself, thats why Nintendo is still around. The problem is how the gaming industry is becoming bandwagon and vague.

What? Halo is good? Lets try to be like Halo then! What CoD4 is the best new thing? Okay lets try to be like CoD4! What? WoW makes shit loads of money? Lets flood the market with MMO's! You can see were I'm going.

I see gaming becoming the next cinema and TV.

TV is dying man. Since the Internet got decent speed and the ability to stream entire shows, people don't want to start tuning at "x" hour to watch "Y" show, since they can see it any time on the web.

To quote someone from portuguese TV media "On Tv we get 80 thousand viewers, on the net millions."

 

[ChromeAlchemist]

-snip-

Heh, I like you McGee, don't go anywhere. I'll voice my opinion soon.

 

[oliveira8]

-snip-

Heh, I like you McGee, don't go anywhere. I'll voice my opinion soon.

Not soon, now! Also you went with my idea.

Theres some more interesting videos of GO. Like the Sonic videos and letter to Nintendo.

Edit: I was referring in comparison to the 2 women on games video topics.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

He talks like the marketing people at Sony and Microsoft have never heard of demographics. It's the people who follow hardcore gamer blogs and forums who need to be told that they are not the only people who play games.

He also seems to ignore the existence of platforms like PS2 and DS which means that he is probably more guilty of blinkered thinking than the corporate suits.

 

[D_987]

This is moviebob - the guy who does film reviews here on The Escapist if memory serves correctly - despite his questionable taste in games I have to admit he brings up a number on intresting points in every episode.

 

[oliveira8]

He talks like the marketing people at Sony and Microsoft have never heard of demographics. It's the people who follow hardcore gamer blogs and forums who need to be told that they are not the only people who play games.

He also seems to ignore the existence of platforms like PS2 and DS which means that he is probably more guilty of blinkered thinking than the corporate suits.

He is talking about the main 3 consoles on the market. The 3 consoles that the youth is more likely to buy.

If this was made in 2003 he would talk about the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube and not the PS1/Nintendo 64.

 

[More Fun To Compute]

He is talking about the main 3 consoles on the market. The 3 consoles that the youth is more likely to buy.

If this was made in 2003 he would talk about the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube and not the PS1/Nintendo 64.

He was talking about the high cost of the cheapest console on the market which was at the time, I guess, the Wii. Ever seen the sales figures and prices for DS and PS2 and wondered what a parent is going to buy for a kid?

I watched some hardcore video podcast on Gametrailers a month or so ago pouring scorn on Sony for lowering the price of the PS2. Like, what sort of morons are Sony, what sort of mouthbreathing hick doesn't own a PS2 yet, that sort of thing. Guess what, sales for PS2 are still really healthy.

 

[Ben Legend]

my...360... is a toy?
but..bu-but...

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

Heh, I like you McGee, don't go anywhere. I'll voice my opinion soon.

Damn right I'm staying here! This is one of the best ideas I've seen on here for months and Moviebob's stuff is great for providing a starting point for things that you can really get your teeth into when talking about games. I look forward to hearing your take on it.

 

[oliveira8]

He is talking about the main 3 consoles on the market. The 3 consoles that the youth is more likely to buy.

If this was made in 2003 he would talk about the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube and not the PS1/Nintendo 64.

He was talking about the high cost of the cheapest console on the market which was at the time, I guess, the Wii. Ever seen the sales figures and prices for DS and PS2 and wondered what a parent is going to buy for a kid?

I watched some hardcore video podcast on Gametrailers a month or so ago pouring scorn on Sony for lowering the price of the PS2. Like, what sort of morons are Sony, what sort of mouthbreathing hick doesn't own a PS2 yet, that sort of thing. Guess what, sales for PS2 are still really healthy.

Yes I'm aware that the PS2 sells more than the PS3 and the DS sells ALOT. But why do these sell so much? Cause the 3 main ones cost alot and two of them seem to have the same games with different colours.

He talks about the 3 main ones. The ones that should be selling alot, 360 and PS3 have laughable sales compared to the Wii. The Wii that is mainly composed out of shovelware and that is suppose to be a gimicky console.

Shoudln't the PS3/360/Wii be the new consoles for the young ones? Why is the PS2 a console with almost 10 years still selling more than the PS3, the PS3 that so many people on this forum judge it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread.

This is the big problem. The prices are too high, games for them cost to much, so the alternatives is not to buy one or buy the old ones.

It seems odd that in 2009 the 2000 console outsells, the 2006 console. Something went wrong somewhere.