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An Attack and a Defence....

© Dan Caines

I don’t understand people, I must admit it. I have no idea what you want to read, what you want to play or read of listen to and most of all I simply don’t know what it takes to persuade many people to part with their money. I am not talking to you specifically as I guess most of the people who read this column would be above average in terms of their games knowledge, but as I see things people are getting their attitude to gaming wrong in a big way. I get so many e-mails moaning about (and I quote) “the complete lack of originality in games”, “how boring most [games] are” and my personal favourite “why are there never any games around when I want to buy them”. Yet when EA risk a lot of money and pride by taking a complete flyer on Lionhead Software and are rewarded with the superb and deliciously “different” Black and White they are rewarded by low sales figures and more negative press comment than I would have dreamed possible. Well, after a negative opening paragraph I am going to take a different line here.

I LOVE YOU, EA AND LIONHEAD. I know its stateside reaction has been somewhat less than whelming but in Black and White you have created a work of genius. Thank you for not doing the sensible thing and simply sticking to the sports games... Thank you for daring to sink time and money into a project like this that has made gaming more pleasurable for (I would say) anyone who bought it. I know it may be confusing for you guys to accumulate great review scores and the like and then to see low sales and a simply astounding volume of negative comment. All I can say to you is wait: first of all this game is a classic that will continue to sell over a period of years which is more than you can say for most games. Secondly, the love will come; the problem is merely that all the people who love it so much are still stuck indoors playing it and have not yet had time to express their joy to the world.

A call to arms to games publishers: keep daring to be different. Stick with ambitious projects through thick and thin (thank you ever so much to whoever canned “The Dreamland Chronicle”), give teams the support they need and do not be deterred when occasionally things go wrong. This is the only way the industry will capture the hearts of more and more people and we, the true gamers, commend you for it.

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