The Social Gaming Generation
Realistic graphics? Ever evolving AI? Online gaming? Is this what this generation of games will be known for?
No. The Wii, 360 and PS3 will be remembered for bringing gaming to the masses in the form of social gaming. Not with the FPS’s, the RPGs, the Sports games but with party games. Games which are very easy to get into and allow people of all ages and genders to play, even together.
The Wii already has an abundance of mini-game kind of titles like Wii Sports, Wario Ware, Raving Rabbids and now Mario & Sonic at the Olympics. I had some friends over on Saturday and we were all hooked on Mario & Sonic. Mindless, simple and pure fun. We had a blast and got a good exercise as well. That 4×100 swimming relay event was a killer!
On the other 2 consoles the complexity of regular controllers make it harder for non-gamers to get into a game. That is why Scene it?, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are so brilliant. They are using peripherals which everybody can feel comfortable with. And people are also familiar with both themes, music and movies.
You can expect more board games getting the videogame treatment. Imagine a turn based pictionary on the Wii. A trivial pursuit with buzzers on the PS3. They can be even better than the original games.
I believe this generation of consoles’ greatest contribution will be establishing social gaming as a true, mainstream entertainment.