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 Previous page | Still - the titles that emerged, held the high-water mark...
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Questions from the court-of-public-opinion have largely been swept under the rug by the Nintendo marketing department - which immediately put Miyamoto on a significant round of interviews and appearances (more than most of the last 10 years combined it seems). In these interviews he would proceed to over-explain his "bold-new-direction" and artistic rationales for changing, a previously "mature video game character" (one that anyone could feel at-home playing with) - into, what was now a "less-than mature" video game character (one that Michael Jackson would feel at-home playing with).
And that's the point being lost on Miyamoto and his cadre of devout fans and followers. As the game industry has continued to expand to reinclude an older audience, most adults feel more at home playing characters that are of a more mature-mindset.
[Tech note 3: I say "reinclude" because, only the older-school enthusiast might remember the days when video games were advertised and featured in publications as diverse as Time - and even Playboy - magazine. It wasn't until the late 80s that a younger demographic was almost exclusively targeted. A fact lost by many in the non-gaming public - and more than a few congressional representatives. Particularly representatives who have made careers out of keeping the world safe from video-games, instead of - perhaps - Arabic terror cells attending flight schools. But I digress...a lot.]
The new-maturation of the video game market might be validated by titles like Grand Theft Auto 3 - which has sold in excess of 8 million copies over a 1.5 year lifespan (a single-title retail curve not seen since the likes of Pac-Man) - and it's follow-up Grand Theft Auto Vice City - which sold more than 7 million copies of itself in the first week of it's release. When asked about Grand Theft Auto in the pages of Wired magazine - Miyamoto only commented: " I am not sure whether that sort of extreme subject matter is always appropriate". It may not always be appropriate - but it does raise the bar in ways that Miyamoto seems either uncomfortable doing - or be rendered incapable of doing, by the marketing strategists at Nintendo.
Grand Theft Auto is actually quite a confusing product for most Japanese developers - it seems - given the cornball and hackneyed add-ons recently thrown onto titles that have emerged since GTA3's release. Games like "Dead or Alive" from Namco now feature strippers and bars. Features that are either laughingly implemented outside the boundaries of good-gameplay - or in ways totally unrelated to the overall theme of the title. I'd like to point out now, that it takes more than a couple of polygon-generated tits to create a game the like Grand Theft Auto 3. In fact, I think a cultural argument might hold some sway, because the current chart-topper - Sony's "The Getaway" - was developed in England - the same country that produced Grand Theft Auto. The Getaway is a successful post-Grand Theft Auto 3 title which contains many of the same adult themes and in-game elements - without being stupid or goofy.
"Goofy" is the only word I can use to describe previous "mature" titles from years past. Titles featuring "farting squirrels", "lakes of poo", and enemies that could be vanquished by "peeing" on them. Acclaim - the video game company whose only consistency to the gaming culture is it's ability to get absolutely nothing right - has attempted to match the adult wave with BMXXX - a game that features topless models on BMX bikes (a bewildering combo that defies explanation - in this column anyway), and so many cornball adult stereotypes - that it profoundly cements Acclaim's reputation as one of many companies that "just" - "don't" - "get-it". It's also my own personal opinion, that the correct way to pronounce Acclaim is "Ack-Lame".
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Next page | The developers that do "get-it"...
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