Yahoo: Smaller Video Game Publishers Under Fire : is about how some smaller publishers are finding it hard to compete with big companies in the $10 billion dollar game business. Acclaim is mentioned who gobbled up rights for my favorite basketball game NBA Jam (the game was originally created by Midway for the arcade) as one of those companies limping along financially. At the end of the article there is a quote by Dan “Shoe” Hsu editor from Electronic Gaming Monthly:

Another important factor, Hsu said, was having the capital for art direction, given the increasing premium put on cutting-edge graphics. “If a game looks really good … it does really change your perception,” he said. “You can make the exact same game, but if one company can make it look better then they sell more products.”

I have subscribed on and off to EGM over the last decade plus and while this might be true from a sales standpoint, I don’t think this trend is going to last. Let’s face it, games like Pac Man in 3D may look cool, but the game sucks compared to the original which had very plain graphics and only one level. A good, fun game doesn’t necessarily need to have killer graphics. Look at Tetris. There are dozens of examples like these that prove a game with mediocre graphics can and did sell. My wish is for game companies to stop falling in love with polygon count and get back to making fun games. This is a sentiment shared by many gamers that can be read in various letters sections of video game magazines like EGM. Enough with the obsession with graphics!

Did this post make you go hmm?

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