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Jacob Portfolio

Page history last edited by Jacob Grimes 14 years, 11 months ago

1. What is the purpose of your argument?

To illustrate how innovation does not always lead to a shift in market dominance in the video game industry, but still should be studied and supported.

 

 

 

 

2. Who is your target audience?

 

Anyone who is not familiar with this particular industry.

 

3. What is your thesis statement?

 

Innovation should be embraced by the target market.

 

4. Did you learn/try anything new while growing this composition?

 

Not being a video game player, but still a supporter of any art form, I learned about the current trends of the gaming industry, as well as some of their blunders.

 5. What do you like best about your composition? About your composition process? Here's where you talk about your best experiments (Did you mix genres? Where you able to integrate ideas from different sources with your own? etc)

 

I enjoyed intergrating the wiki and the essay form. By providing youtube videos, I feel that my point was reinforced better than the traditional sense.

 

6. Of the feedback you garnered in our workshop, what piece of information was most valuable/helpful?

 

When I received feedback my paper was still in a somewhat infant stage. The responses were very supportive and allowed me to feel more confident on the thesis of the paper.

 

7. Where would you like to see the most feedback/advice on your final draft?

 

It seems that most of my peers are in fact gamers. I would like to know if my thesis was true.

 

 

 

 

Working Title

 

We have seen this scenario a million times: a small mustachioed plumber pummeling helpless turtles to their death in order to save a simple-minded princess. If you are not familiar with this depiction, it is Super Mario Brothers for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Super Mario Brothers ushered in a new era of videogames, one that represented colorful graphics, simple yet compelling stories, and innovative game play. As a result many Mario clones were created, but nothing could compare to the original. Just like any living being the gaming industry is continuing to evolve. Each new idea causes a shift in the market, resulting in development studios mimicking the original, eventually over saturating the industry. This is a problem that should not be prevented, but instead embraced. 

 

 

 

The gaming industries phylogenetic tree is eerily similar to that of the human races. At the dawn of time small rectangles bounced back and forth a ball. Eventually these rectangles developed appendages and a love for Italian food and plumbing. Soon this plumber was abandoned on Mars and his only means of survival was to slaughter Hell’s minions. Even though this example is a little extreme and comedic, the same thought is still there, we are constantly evolving. Video Games are never stuck in a rut, when something is boring and stale; a new gaming innovation is already in the works. This means a whole lot more than finding a new way to take money from consumers. It is a form of artistry one that involves the player than ever before. Unfortuantly, all of these advances cannot succeed. Many of them drown under the weight of their own hype and lack of marketability. With every successful gaming innovation being praised, there are hundreds that will never even see that the light of day. If a few of these manage to seep out, they are met with lackluster reviews and sales. Two of the most infamous debacles are the Nintendo Virtual Boy and the Nokia N-Gage. Even though they were perceived as a commercial failure, one must admire their creators ingenuity and imagination.

 

 

 

Nintendo is seen as the most influential and important videogame development companies. Despite being one of the top videogame publishers in the world, Nintendo has met their fair share of criticism. The year was 1995 and the videogame industry was at an all time high. A Super Nintendo and Game Boy were in the home of almost every child in America. Even with Nintendo's large amount of success, various other consoles were in development in order to compete with their main competitor, Sega. Gunpei Yokoi, creator of the Game and Watch and the Game Boy was already hard at work on a console that would turn the gaming world upside down, the Nintendo Virtual Boy, codename: VR-32. The Virtual Boy was intended to create what no other home console could, a 3-D environment for the user. The hardware of the Virtual Boy was nothing more than a pair of goggles with red LED lights that caused the viewer to experience a slight 3-D environment, similar to a 3-D movie or comic book. Instead this caused the user to see double rather than a new dimension. It is important to note that the choice of red LED lights was made not for the quality of picture, but instead for the cost. Red lights at the time were much cheaper and a less of a drain on batteries. This was the first indication that the Virtual Boy was doomed from the start. Soon the project was given the green light and word got out to the gaming community and press that Nintendo would be releasing the first 3-D gaming console. Upon its release Nintendo of America's description only hammered the nail in the coffin: “"Powered by a 32-bit processor, the Virtual Boy produced very impressive 3-D effects, although the monochromatic graphic style proved to limit the appeal of the visuals.” This farce did not full the public and critics. The system was universally panned after its first years of sales, dropping its initial price of $180 dollars, to a mere fraction of the original. When confronted about this universal failure, Nintendo did the only thing a true corporation was capable of, blame the creator. Yokoi became a martyr. Production was soon halted and Nintendo continued to focus even more on their new system, the Nintendo 64.

 

 

 

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In the early 2000’s videogames were at an all time high. The Sony Playstation 2 and Microsoft Xbox were selling millions of consoles around the world. In order to find a niche in a market dominated by home consoles, Nokia decided to incorporate what they knew best, cell phones. They saw gamers as a group who owned not only a cell phone, but also a portable gaming system. By combining the two, Nokia would not only be able to sell more phones, but also games as well, thus the N-Gage was born. Much like the Virtual Boy, the N-Gage suffered a fate caused by poor design and lack of development. When the system was finally released in 2003, gamers were disgusted by its “taco” shape and poor button scheme. Even though Nokia managed to secure some lucrative gaming rights such as Tomb Raider and Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, this was not even enough to save the N-Gage from abysmal sales. Nokia reported that 400,000 units were sold in the first two weeks, while market research firms Chart-Track and Arcadia Research claimed that the N-Gage only sold 5,000 units in North America and 800 in the UK. Nokia later confirmed this information was true. Although the N-Gage was received poorly in America and the UK, it is still being produced and sold in Chinese and Indian markets. What is most fascinating about these two consoles is that despite horrendous sales and a lackluster reception, they were not bad ideas per say. In fact some would dare to call them revolutionary. One must admire the designers for trying something new and daring. Not every idea will be successful. Failure is the first step to progress.

 

 

 

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 The Nintendo Corporation has seen some of the industry’s biggest failures, but also major successes. In 2006, Nintendo hit a grand slam with the release of the Nintendo Wii, a revolutionary console that immerses the player into an entirely new gaming experience. The Wii is based around two appliances, the Wii remote and a sensor bar. The Wii remote uses LED lasers and Bluetooth technology in order to connect with the sensor bar. This allows the user to control the game being played by movement of the remote. What makes the Wii so revolutionary is not the sensor based control scheme, but instead the name. According to Nintendo “Wii sounds like 'we', which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around the world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion. No need to abbreviate. Just Wii.” The Wii is not just a gaming console; but instead an experience that is shared by everyone, young or old. With the release of the Wii, Nintendo has once again  repositioned itself on top, outselling both the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3. While both the Xbox and Playstation have superior graphics and sound, they still do not offer what the Wii can; interactivity. They allow the players at home to not only feel like they are in the game, but also a social experience other consoles can not provide. Would you rather sit in a dark room playing a game by yourself, or go virtual bowling with four of your friends?

 

 

 

Gamers know what gamers want. They are the ones purchasing the consoles and playing the games. It should be of no surprise that some are slowly becoming fed up with the same games being regurgitated into the market, which has led them to take matters into their own hands. The Microsoft Corporation has begun providing independently developed games through their Xbox Arcade, with its biggest success being the award winning Braid, created by Jonathan Blow. Blow is an independent programmer, designer, and advocate of videogames as an “innovative, ethical, and personal art.” He cites the immensely popular World of Warcraft as an unethical game that exploits players by using a simple “rewards-for-suffering scheme.” Blow can be seen as a champion for independent gaming, but is he just as guilty as some of the corporate developers? Yes and no. Sure Blow can be considered a “sellout,” someone who literally sold his soul to the devil known as Microsoft, but is this really such a bad thing? His unique and innovative game Braid has sold over 50,000 copies, which has allowed him to start work on his next game. Blow is single handily responsible for ushering in a new era of mass-market gaming, using innovation and art as a basis for progress.

 

 

 

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In the end it is important to know that failure is the basis for progress. They provide a foundation, one that needs to be nurtured and developed. It is important to learn from these mistakes and not ignore them. Without the LED technology developed by the virtual boy, the Nintendo Wii would never exist. It is disappointing to know that the gaming community is very unforgiving. Should a man become a martyr for trying something new? Should the same games be recycled for a decade? No. One day gamers will realize that some of the industries biggest failures were also great successes. 

 

  

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