There just is no tradition in the game business to produce anything like a
box-set and they aren't used to contracting out documentarians.
Well, that's not exactly true. Japan has a bit of that going around, but
nothing like the music biz. In Japan they have the Phantasy Star Collection
for Saturn that collects the entire series up to that point on a single disc
and includes big books with art and whatever. They also have the Square
collection with all the Square games collected into big boxed sets and made
to run on the PS. They even have an ultra cool Biohazard (aka Resident
Evil) collection that comes in a Solid Steel Briefcase. It's awesome. The
difference is that the US gaming market is just now maturing. I don't even
mean the US gamers. I mean more the management and companies. Sadly the
leaders of the industry are stupid about what makes it work. They hoard
their old intellectual properties like dragons on great piles of gold with
no conception of what they hold. They never loved the games. Most of them
spend their weekends in the Hamptons or playing golf. How many of them are
shut up in a room with a stack of 10 and 20 year old cartridges trying to
finally finish that game of Might and Magic for Genisis or trying to cause
the score counter to roll over on their favorite variation of Pong. They
didn't grow up with it and they don't understand it. What they understand
is business. The almighty dollar. Where's the movie tie in that makes it
recognizable for parents? Is it at all connected to Harry Potter? Can we
put Waldo in it somewhere? What is the deal? Square did not build their
gaming empire on BS. They were near bankrupt and needed a hit. What did
they do? A Beavis and Butthead game? No. A Bartman Saves the Universe
sequal? No. They put everything they had into a gaming experience. They
tried to deliver an experience that was beyond all that had come before.
They succeeded. They have continued to try and do that with every game and
their succeesses have compounded. Their in it for the money , but they
don't act like it when it comes down to game time. They deliver and
experience which is what the heart of any game should be. It's a challenge,
it's entertainment, it's FUN! Damn! I holler till I'm red in the face about
this and it never seems to sink in. I've watched countless failures.
Our engine is beyond anything you've ever seen. Every character model has
fully functional digits and even eyelashes.
WHO CARES!!!
I don't care if it looks like a turd in the bowl. If it plays like Quake's
multiplayer I'm in. That is an experience. A nerve-wrecking, finger
twiching experience. Goldeneye. N64. Did they just spit out a tie in for
a quick buck? No. They delivered a tie in years after the movie was
released that single handedly revived the ailing N64 in the US. It was an
awesome experience. Totally unique. It was the fabled "killer-app". It
was Alien Vs. Predator for the Jag. It was Space Invaders for the VCS. It
was everything a gamer could want. And it still is. I can still sit down
and experience Space Invaders or the arcade Centipede. They are super
classics. They are defining points in the history and language of gaming.
They are not be quick bucked to death. The should be reevered and placed on
high. If they are to be sold again it should be done with honor and respect
for the great achievements that they are. They are the wheel that allowed
for the automobile. Don't sell me a damn stone circle. Show me the
history. Show me the how, the who and the where. I want to see pictures of
the skating rink that Atari started in. I want to see that Sports buyer
from Sears who started the Atari Sears relation ship. I want to see Nolan
B's big smiling bearded face in the game.
I've said enough. I'm sorry if I've wasted anyone's time. But this matters
to me. I see history and culture disappearing and dying because "adults"
have catogorized it as unimportant. So many novels and plays and songs are
just gone now because no one gave a damn. I will not allow it to happen to
video games.
Christopher Rydberg
solitaire0@xxxxxxxxxxx
afterlife.terrashare.com
P.S.-How's that for a tangent? Started on collectors editions and boxed
sets and ended crying about the end of culture. Don't worry. I'm not
crazy, just passionate.
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