HEAD BLOG

It’s coming soon and the way Microsoft seem to be promoting it, you’d be fooled into thinking this is an upgrade to Nintendo’s groundbreaking Wii. All the elements pioneered by Nintendo are there. The sofa, the smiling family playing nicely together, the bright lights, the large living room – everything has been designed to make you reach for your Wii-mote. Even the style of gaming is less of the hardcore action normally associated with Microsoft and more of the Grandparent/Kid friendly barnstorming Nintendo throw out.

It makes you think that all those Wii owners (and would-be Wii owners) will soon be upgrading on the promise of a controller free, gaming heaven.

I’m not so sure.

I think Nintendo is more than just a company producing games consoles. It is an approach and its philosophy goes beyond the sofa. When a non-gamer (or casual gamer as we all call them these days) sees a Wii they see simplicity. The Wii box is elegant but it’s unobtrusive. It’s something they can identify with because, unlike the Xbox 360, it doesn’t look challenging. I love the Xbox, it’s a great machine. But as someone with decreasing amounts of time to spend playing games it does throw up barriers to entry. An XBox game, by and large, has to be deeper and more satisfying than (say) Carnival Games on the Wii (great game by the way).

It may just be down to perception but the casual gamer doesn’t see the Xbox as a quick time filler. It’s an investment in time and energy. That’s not a bad thing of course. Millions of gamers wouldn’t want it any other way. Wii is just a different beast.

Flying in the face of convergence, a games console seems to be more than just the software it offers. Of course Carnival Games would work on Natal. It would work on most platforms. But delivering the right experience to the right audience is more than just a software issue. It’s a perception issue also and it will be interesting to see how Microsoft become grandparent friendly without alienating the more hardcore gamers out there.

Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles

It took me five minutes to write the headline to this post. Five minutes of typing, deleting, typing. It may not look like it was worth the effort.

“Resident Evil Campaign”. Guess what this post is about?

Over the past few months we have been working on a number of campaigns. The one for Resident Evil has just gone live. It’s a pretty simple proposition: it’s a scary game and it’s for the Wii.

Take a look at the ad over on Ads Of The World where there are some interesting comments being said. I’d agree with some of them. I’ve banned anyone here from voting on the ad because that’s just stupid.

There are too many agencies out there rigging the vote to make themselves look great. There’s a world of difference between appearing to be great and actually being great. We’re working towards the latter.

Resident Evil The Darkside Chronicles

Followers of The Guardian’s Games Blog will have picked up on its coverage of E3 – a vital event in the gaming year. Microsoft have surprised all (coming after having the wind taken out of their Bing sails slightly by Google Wave) with Project Natal. Certainly whilst I was raving about Wave, everyone else in the office  – being more serious gamers than I – were clucking about Natal. Read more…