You're standing in a game store one day, when two games catch your eye. One is called Halo Gears : Episode 3 - a new FPS/RTS/RPG extravaganza, the latest in what has now become an official title - The Hardcore Game. It looks gorgeous, it's deep, it's emotional, it has a well told plotline that could be summed up in three sentences, it's hard as adamantium nails. The other is Puu Sports 18, which is designed to offer a series of fun minigames that you know you can play with your entire family - it's quick, it's easy, it's very, VERY Casual. As you pick them up, you get two very different visions of the future...
As you pick up the Hardcore Game, you have visions of less and less kids playing, some buying games for a bit as games get harder and harder. They look for help on line, and are told to "stfu" because they're "n00bs". They have no idea what this means and decide to go outside and play with their friends who are having similar experiences. You go forward a decade. Everyone who's classified themselves as a "Hardcore Gamer" is now out of school. As they get jobs, they get less time to game, most phase it out. The last game to be released gets no sales, because everyone who'd be interested is online, complaining to the few remaining games companies that it's their fault noone's online to play their games any more.
As you pick up the Casual Game, you see a popular new trend coming among all games consoles - the cheap and the gimmicky. More and more kids, parents and OAPs are picking up the Puu, which has become the omniconsole after every other competitor pulled out of the console wars. The FPS and the RTS are becoming dying breeds, and RPGs are all about bright pink ladyboys training tiny creatures to knock out their opponents while extolling the virtues of not killing each other. The remaining "Hardcore Gamers" retreat to the last bastion of gore and immersion - the PC. This lasts for a while, but eventually PISTOn release a game that involves using advanced physics engines to knock over brightly coloured pins. Complaints are ignored and boycotts are laughed off 'cos the Hardcore crowd were never going to buy it anyway - and Casual gaming is selling faaar better than pandering to Hardcore gamers, a dying audience.
You realise that you have enough money to buy one, and you really want a new game. It's on you to decide the fate of gaming. Which do you buy?
And yes, you have to buy one or the other...
Also, this precog gift only works on those two games. You don't get superpowers out of the deal.
As you pick up the Hardcore Game, you have visions of less and less kids playing, some buying games for a bit as games get harder and harder. They look for help on line, and are told to "stfu" because they're "n00bs". They have no idea what this means and decide to go outside and play with their friends who are having similar experiences. You go forward a decade. Everyone who's classified themselves as a "Hardcore Gamer" is now out of school. As they get jobs, they get less time to game, most phase it out. The last game to be released gets no sales, because everyone who'd be interested is online, complaining to the few remaining games companies that it's their fault noone's online to play their games any more.
As you pick up the Casual Game, you see a popular new trend coming among all games consoles - the cheap and the gimmicky. More and more kids, parents and OAPs are picking up the Puu, which has become the omniconsole after every other competitor pulled out of the console wars. The FPS and the RTS are becoming dying breeds, and RPGs are all about bright pink ladyboys training tiny creatures to knock out their opponents while extolling the virtues of not killing each other. The remaining "Hardcore Gamers" retreat to the last bastion of gore and immersion - the PC. This lasts for a while, but eventually PISTOn release a game that involves using advanced physics engines to knock over brightly coloured pins. Complaints are ignored and boycotts are laughed off 'cos the Hardcore crowd were never going to buy it anyway - and Casual gaming is selling faaar better than pandering to Hardcore gamers, a dying audience.
You realise that you have enough money to buy one, and you really want a new game. It's on you to decide the fate of gaming. Which do you buy?
And yes, you have to buy one or the other...
Also, this precog gift only works on those two games. You don't get superpowers out of the deal.
