Original Sin?

As popular as the NBA series may be, it's a supreme example of the problems that hamstring the major games publishers today. Originality or, for the most part, lack of it. The games industry is following exactly the archetypal profile of an industry that started out cool, cutting edge and totally innovative and is rapidly becoming hackneyed, staid and quite frankly boring.

Think back to all the great sports teams of the past. They all had, in some shape or another, a "winning play" that in their season of glory seemed to get a result every time they used it. It was not a routine dunk or save, it was a '98 Jazz pick-and-roll or a Dominik Hasek butterfly. The same went for the publishers. They all had one star game or franchise that seemed to guarantee success: a yearly license to print money. FIFA. NBA. Lands of Lore for Westwood.

Do you also remember that after one year or maybe a couple at max, it stopped being special? Familiarity bred contempt. You started wishing they'd just do something else. And then it stopped working. The team invariably started fading out. Newer, fresher teams wised up and eventually the 20-pound minnow stuffed the 200-pound gorilla. USA Soccer stuffing Germany at the Rose Bowl. We'll call it the Ricky Martin syndrome. You hear it once, it sounds OK. 84 times in a row on the WKRLA all hit hour and it starts to grate a bit.

After that rambling simile I will get to my point. Imagination conquers repetition. The games companies that will be the most successful in the next 10 years will follow the SAS motto: "Who Dares, Wins." Yeah, it helps if you've got a top-selling banker, like a pro sports franchise, but what you need most to differentiate yourself from the competition is a little imagination and a lot of faith. Some companies have apparently grasped these facts and have picked up unlikely, low-budget or just plain weird games, most of which when released have turned out to be hits. I'd have loved to have been in on the meeting where the development team behind Wetrix explained their ideas to the game's eventual publishers Infogrames. "Well, it's like you have to control all this water that's falling from the sky, and make it run into lakes. If you succeed a giant yellow rubber duck floats onto your lake." There is a fine line between originality and stupidity, but thankfully in this case it was perfectly judged and Wetrix turned out to be a classic, if ever so slightly infuriating puzzle game.

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