Weekly News Recap 10/4/09

The land down under may be doomed to another decade of gaming cencorship as one holdout Attorney General is keeping Austraila from incorporating a mature rating into its games classification system. Currently interactive media must contain content safe enough for a 15 year old or risk being refused classification and effectively banned from the country. While Michael Atkinson, the one naysayer, thinks games can have artistic merit it's not worth the risk of allowing children or disturbed individuals engage interactively with violent, sexual, or drug-related themes. Two things smell funny to me. First, not all games with this objectionable content include them in an interactive way. The current law would prohibit games with objectionable cut scenes (no matter how "artistic") would be refused classification. Secondly, this particular AG doesn't seem to understand the lessons one can learned in an interactive medium. If the worry is that acting out one's violent and/or sexual fantasies in a game might spur one to act them out in real life think about how many lessons can be learned by giving players an opportunity to act them out and suffer the in-game consequences of such behavior. Allowing someone to experiment with - and yes, see the positive side of - certain objectionable behaviors, along with the often inevitable consequences of those behavior is a much better "teachable moment" than simply shuttering all such behavior behind lock and key.

Now that the PSP Go has launched there is a wealth of information to follow up last week's news about the effect of digital downloads on the market. Responding to concerns that a first-party digital distribution system creates an effective pricing monopoly it's nice to see that third-party companies can choose to make price cuts - temporary or permanent - at any time. This is actually a beneficial change for the consumer as they no longer have to wait for retaliers willing to take a cut in profits by lowering prices on games they've already paid wholesale rates for.

There's also a handy price comparison chart for UMD games and their digital counterparts. Interesting reading, particularly with such a wide variety of price differences, some in favor of the UMD and others just the opposite. Important to note is that many hard to find or out-of-print games fetch exhorbidant collector's prices in physical media - a non-issue when it comes to digital versions.

If you're still not sold about the move towards digital distribution the Entertainment Consumers Association is putting together a petition and grassroots advocacy campaign for gamers rights with regards to their digital purchases. There's a lot of great information there and a wonderful place to get involved if you're worried about the future of games when borrowing, selling, and trading in are nothing more than boring facts we tell our grand kids.

Weekly News Recap 8/30/09

[I'm trying something new (though not entirely original) here at PEEG. My time is in short supply of late which puts a cramp on my style as far as blogging and playing games about which too blog. But I still manage to keep up-to-date on what's happening in the game industry and gaming culture so, in an attempt to keep my fingers typing I'm going to subject you, Inconstant Reader, to a weekend update of sorts. Basically these are my quick thoughts on several interesting game related news stories from the previous week.]

The FCC is considering a standardized rating system that would apply to games, movies, television shows, and mobile apps. Many commenters see this as another step towards censorship which I find that a weak concern. What scares me most is the logistics of such a thing. It takes long enough to get a product rated by an independent organization focused on one specific medium - imagine a governmental body charged with standardizing ratings across multiple types media!

That issue aside I'm rather intrigued by the idea. A standardized system could garner more equity across ratings. For example, some things that are tame enough to be included in a PG-13 movie will elicit and MA rating in a game. Standardized ratings would expose this gross inequality, or at least open up debate as to why one and the same action is more "mature" if it's included in an interactive medium (even if the action itself is part of a cutscene or otherwise out of the player's direct control). I personally doubt this umbrella system will ever come to pass, but I don't see it being a gross blow to the games industry if it does.

According to the Chatty Cathys of the interwebs Best Buy is willing to bribe people out of returning their recently purchased PS3 Fats for PS3 Slims.

Obviously no one likes feeling they just got shafted by purchasing a $400 piece of hardware only to learn the following day that a newer version of it could be had for 3/4 the price. But isn't that exactly what a company does if they try (and fail) to keep these things a secret? Why not let people know about a price drop or new system in advance? Because sales will probably wane in the interim as people hold out for the newer, cheaper system. So by withholding that information the company is basically decieiving consumers. Put another way, the company is hoping consumers will get shafted. That's just bad PR if you ask me. By officially announcing something like this, say, a month in advance and also - though this is a pipe dream - encouraging stores to inform consumers at the point of purchase, you give people a choice. Maybe I just can't wait a month to get the system I want, but I should be able to make an informed choice. Besides, marketing people should know the American consumer enough to realize that we're impulse buyers at heart!

Finally, on the subject of American consumerism... can you believe that people would actually consider purchasing a Scribblenauts strategy guide!? Talk about not seeing the forest for the trees. Scribblenauts is not a game about winning, it's a game about creativity. The only possible reason a person would desire a strategy guide for such a jewel of a game is if they approaching gaming as just another conquest. Everything I've read about the game suggests that it won't be all that difficult - it's not the destination but the journey that's important. Using a strategy guide is like making the journey on rails... in an enclosed vehicle... with a single window... facing the ground....