Anything related to the marketing of games.
What is the purpose of a sequel? From a corporate perspective it’s a means of establishing a brand, a franchise, and increasing revenue through recognition. As a fictional work it’s to expand the universe, grow the narrative and revisit familiar characters. What is the purpose from a game perspective? Chess might have evolved over centuries but […]
A core property of games as is that of interactivity, digital games especially so. Computers are interactive, therefore computer games are interactive, but does interactivity operate on a binary scale? Is something either interactive or not? If it’s not a binary scale does a game require a certain degree of interactivity? One title that has been criticised for […]
I’ve often found myself in discussions regarding the apparent mainstreaming of games, the basic argument being that games will lose some of what initially made them special because they are now being designed for a wider audience. Whilst this is a point of view I can understand, it is also one that I consider a little […]
The role of narrative in games, and the relationship between story and gameplay, has been an important topic at this years Game Developers Conference. Once again developers seemed unable to agree on the importance of narrative in games. The first person to speak up specifically about the role of stories in games was Ken Levine, President […]