Game Platform or Platform for Games

I am not a huge gamer … I play a bit of Wii and have been known to kick some ass in Desktop Tower Defense, but beyond that I have not been able to catch the console game addiction. At the end of the day the controls have always limited my ability to really get into them — too many buttons and too much cinematic flourishes to really engage me. Back in the day I could play a mean Ninetendo, but that was when the controls were super simple and the games were about the game play and not the cinematic elements.

With all that said, last year I borrowed a PS3 and Little Big Planet based on the recommendations of friends and colleagues Bart Pursel and Allan Gyorke. It was an instant hit with my daughter and I. We nearly completed all the levels — eventually getting to a spot that I could not beat and gave up. We did pour lots of hours into it and learned to love the user generated levels as much as the ones that ship with the game. It felt like we were hanging out exploring YouTube, but interacting with peoples’ creations. It was as engaging as it gets. I wonder how the idea of game publishing will move into the mainstream as the tools to build games and levels become increasingly easy. I am wondering if we’ll see mashups emerge in the game space that become viral hits like so often happens in the digital video universe of YouTube?

This morning, Bart sent me a link to the LBP2 trailer and it got me excited about these questions and I started thinking about how I was going to save up for it and a PS3 to explore some of them … the kids will love it đŸ˜‰

One thought on “Game Platform or Platform for Games

  1. The game dev tools for the masses are primitive right now, but they will catch up eventually. In the meantime, schools are starting to invest in game development curricula. See http://gaming.psu.edu/node/1021 for more info. To see another game with some dev tools that people can easily use, check out Spore. It’s fun, complex, and gives you creative power.

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