So what ARE You doing in the slot of time that used to be gaming?

To be honest, I’ve not done a whole lot of gaming outside of DDR in the last, oh, year and a half or so (I still have presents from 2006 I’ve barely played). There was my brief StarCraft fling, which seems to have died down. Other than that…I gues the days when I could effectively keep track of 5 separate games (And have time to play them all) are behind me.

I do think that what helped Nintendo a lot was less their specific execution of their strategy than the strategy itself–effectively “Let Sony and Microsoft tear each other to pieces going after the ‘Hardcore’ gamers and head in another direction entirely”. Not to say that Nintendo haven’t executed said strategy very well, mind you, as they have, but more or less recognizing that they’re thought of as the “kiddy” company (For better or worse), and will probably always be thought of as such no matter how many Manhunt 2s come out for their systems, and at least accepting it rather than trying to fight it did wonders for them.

As for the Wii I give Nintendo credit– there are lots of 30+ year olds who love the Wii for its simplicity and according to the stuff I’ve read, this is the biggest audience. It’s wild the Wii controller has really worked out, given the history of gaming peripheral controllers in the past. The same can be said for DDR too, as the same idea vis a vis the Power Pad was out in 1989. I do think even “hardcore” gamers were growing weary of the latest epic RPGS once they became to come out in gluttonous numebrs; my biggest worry about the game market is the super saturation of games on all systems–and an overall reduced quality in games now that every kid who grew up playing Mario Bros thinks he can start a game company. Of course a select few CAN but the rest make the dregs that end up in the 99 cent bin.

I’ll always argue that PCs are still the home of the most in-depth gaming for nerds galore. Right now is kind of a dark period for my personal style of gaming–I don’t love gimmicky setups ala the DS, Wiimotes, etc. and next-gen consoles are thriving on FPS games, my Super Metroids?! Thankfully, the old GBA has some quality titles to work through for now…