Topic: A Fascinating Gamasutra Article About The Wii U

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/182294/persuasive_games...

A Completely Inadequate Summary: Everything that the Wii U is undecided on is part of Nintendo's plan of admitting that things aren't the same anymore; you cannot rely on a certain formula to predict what will sell and what will be popular, even nowadays. It's quite a fascinating read, as is most of Gamasutra's articles.

Ian Bogost is one of the finest game industry academics out there.

It's unfortunate that so few people understand academic thinking, because that piece is a work of genius, but looking at the comments below it a whole bunch of people did not get what it is on about. At all.

Another one of these times I wish there was a better outlet for academic thought on games. It's easy enough to find halfway intelligent discussion on film and literature out there. It's very difficult to find an equivalent in games.

Here is the hope that most people recognize the system for the same qualities the writer mentions. Too many times, this industry is a lot like the comic industry. I know I have said this before. It just seems that both want to be taken seriously so bad. However, they are scared to death of innovation and change. They want to be main stream, but they are deathly afraid to let new people in. They have fought to be heard for their great ideas and characters their respective mediums bring, but they are quick to slam the door in anyone's face that would like to get to know those same things better. They both seem to have an identity crisis of some sorts no pun intended.

By no means am I innocent of the same charges. I too have problems some times when they do not get the origin story right. It irritates me to see countless mini games being dumped on us. However, that movie and game were not necessarily meant for us. Sometimes they are used to introduce new people to the medium. Several of us were up in arms over the Nintendo ad campaign for the 3DS that used the line, "I am not a gamer." That campaign was not for the people that play games as much as we do. It was used to bring a new demographic in. Guess what? It worked. I have a 3DS XL under the tree right now for my daughter who saw the Style Savvy Series. She loves fashion. She has study it well enough now to know he art games are available as well.

I know this is a Nintendo website, and I am preaching to the choir. I thought this was a very thought provoking argument, and I hope that "gamers" will think a little more on some of the points rather than quickly dismissing it like they are of then want to do.