Jonathan Coley's Blog
Posted by Jonathan Coley
We've all heard the bad rap on video games: they desensitize kids to violence and, in some instances, can even spur kids on to violence.
Of course, any thinking person can immediately see a number of holes in this argument. Not all video games are violent; the vast majority of video game players are good people and never commit violence; not all video game players are kids.
Just putting an end to this way of thinking has been a goal of many video game "advocates" for some time. But, in a welcome change of pace, the USA Today published an editorial praising video games in its June 20th, 2008, edition.
The editorial, entitled "Virtuous video games," discussed games such as Wii Fit, which promotes healthy living, and the United Nations' free video game Food Force, which educates people on the difficulties in responding to natural disasters.
The editorial also pointed out how "reading novels" were "once condemned as morally wrong and particularly harmful to young ladies." I immediately thought of another example: as discussed in the new book The Fifty-Cent Plague, the government launched a virtual war on comic books during the 1950's, leading many comic book professionals to leave the industry. Nowadays, condemnations of reading novels or comic books would hardly be taken seriously.
Yes, the public may finally be coming around and seeing the good side of video games. But the work isn't finished yet: video game developers should continue to make video games promoting positive social change in addition to merely entertaining us. We'll all be better off for it.
Posted by Jonathan Coley
Last week, Activision officially unveiled Guitar Hero World Tour, AKA "Guitar Hero IV," for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii. The latest "Hero" is scheduled for release this fall, only a few short months after Guitar Hero: Aerosmith, and features a redesigned guitar, a microphone, and a drum set for a whopping $190!
Confession number one: I'll probably play the new Guitar Hero. Scratch that, I'll definitely play it -- it's my job.
Confession number two: I'll probably enjoy the new Guitar Hero. The game series brings together two of my loves -- video games and music -- and with its online and multiplayer modes, Guitar Hero is one of my favorite time wasters.
But let me just put into print what every video gamer has had on their minds for a while now with confession number three: I'm beginning to get tired of Guitar Hero.
Simply put, Guitar Hero and the larger music-and-rhythm genre are to video games what game shows and reality shows have been to television the past few years. Guitar Hero was a blast at first. And for many of us, it still is. But Activision and other companies are starting to milk the genre a bit too much, and it's going to make us all want to never play a music game again.
One glimpse at this year's release calendar tells you all you need to know about the state of the music-and-rhythm genre and, maybe, the video games industry in general: Guitar Hero On Tour (DS), Guitar Hero Aerosmith (multiplatform), Battle of the Bands (Wii), Rock Band (wii), Samba de Amigo (Wii), Guitar Hero World Tour (multiplatform), and the list will (probably) go on.
So Activision, the best present you can give us this holiday season is not another Guitar Hero -- it's a break.
Posted by Jonathan Coley
I've been writing about video games for quite a while (ten years this May), and I've been playing video games even longer. Over these past years, video games have grown from being a mere niche hobby to a cultural phenomenon, and more and more successful games are popping up on the market.
Yet, even the video games industry is not without growing pangs, and one of those growing pangs is certainly the lack of original games and the subsequent demise of numerous small video games developers.
Take the top ten selling games of February, for instance. Five of the ten titles were sequels to existing series -- such as Call of Duty 4, Devil May Cry 4, and Guitar Hero III - while the others were either games from existing franchises or spin-offs of current franchises.
That's why I was very pleased recently to hear about Nintendo's plans for WiiWare and Microsoft's plans for Xbox Live Community Games.
WiiWare, launching today in Japan and in May in North America, allows small and large developers alike to come out with original, small-scale titles that can be downloaded off Nintendo's online service. Xbox Live Community Games, launching later this year, will allow almost anyone to put new games online for download.
Yes, many of the games released through the programs may be of a lower quality. But both Nintendo's WiiWare and Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Games will allow small developers who don't have a big budget to get their foot in the door of the games industry, as well as allow gamers to find cheaper and more original games -- and that's a good thing.
Look for previews of upcoming WiiWare and Community Arcade games in the coming weeks. In the meantime, read more about Nintendo's WiiWare program and about Microsoft's Xbox Live Community Games service.