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Thread: Expanding the Demographic

  1. Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
    I shouldn't have said the word "hardcore" in my first post. I was hoping the thread wouldn't become a "hardcore" vs "mainstream" thread. Both of those sides are dominated by young males so it doesn't matter. The question I was asking is how can we turn typical non-gamers into gamers?
    The answer to making more non-gamers into gamers is an easy task...

    Developers need to make Liscensed games Good...

    Cause then when people go to the movies and see something good or a cartoon or whatever...they hear from word of mouth how good a game is based on that same story they will be more inclined to see what the hype is about...

    Cause someone won't feel as weird jumping into playing games and being see as geeky if they are fullfilling a hidden fantasy.
    Finished Games of '09
    nothing at this time

  2. You're all wrong!

    Ok, now that I've got that out of my system, here's what I think-

    The problem isn't with the games we've got (or rather, beyond a case-by-case basis it isn't) but rather with getting the product we've got into the hands of those who'd like it. Let me use a game I bet we all could agree will be both playable by anyone and fun- the Bust A Move series. It's your basic Tetris clone, making it popular with a huge segment on non-traditional gamers, it's really Japanese-y, making it popular with the import crowd, it's got great multiplayer ans is totally family-friendly, making it good for the family crowd. So why is it only marginally popular?

    Answer- crap marketing, as bad as any Gitaroo Man (another game with the same qualifications) got. Where was the ad for it in one of those hideous supermarket magazines like Woman's Day or whatever? Why are games with broad-audience appeal being marketed specificaly toward such a narrow demographic? I can get (and have been meaning to) Bust A Move PS2 for $20 at Circuit City. I'd have to knock the layer of dust off before I snagged my copy, and there's no reason for that. $20 is a good price for it, a mass-market price in fact, but at this point nobody remembers it exists any more. And the cover is possibly my all-time least favorite cover ever, including Mega Man NES and ultra-scary Bomberman Turbografx.

    Thing is, as long as companies think games like The Sims or Gynecologist Tycoon are mysterioius flukes of nature, and who knows why their popular among so many different kinds of people, quick clone off more, then true mainstream acceptance of games won't happen. It wouldn't be such a frustrating condition if the answers weren't so blindingly obvious.

    I think I hit a new low with Gynecologist Tycoon. WooHoo!

    James

  3. Originally posted by NeoZeedeater
    I shouldn't have said the word "hardcore" in my first post. I was hoping the thread wouldn't become a "hardcore" vs "mainstream" thread. Both of those sides are dominated by young males so it doesn't matter. The question I was asking is how can we turn typical non-gamers into gamers?
    I don't think the word "hardcore" needs to be use, ever.

  4. I honestly think Super Monkey Ball holds the answers to what you're looking for.

    It's hard enough for the dedicated, has enough fun, addicting, and simple side games for the casual, is cute, and has that Japanese-ish vibe to make the import friendly happy. It sounds stupid, but the more I think of it, the more SMB seems like the game of 'perfection' = the game that can something to anyone. The problem, though, is it's not 'enough' of everything a certain person may crave, so :P

    As for price, I see people buy 50-dollar jeans on a whim. People spend mad cash on clothes mainly for style and status, and for length of life second. Yet I don't hear people complain when they lay dow 200 bones for a pair of shoes or the aforementioned jeans dilemma. And believe me, they could get clothes cheaper, but they don't - they want the 'name' and recognition. Bleh.

    So with that perspective, I don't think games are expensive. 50 bucks for a new game that can last you a livetime if you take care of it. The problem is when people buy games only to play it one or two days and then never touch it. Then again, people who do this are missing the point of gaming all together.

    Heck, for 20 bucks you can get a movie on DVD. You can keep it for a lifetime and continue watching it. For 50 bucks you can buy a brand-new videogame. You can keep for a lifetime and play it - actually participate in it- over and over. Plus, throw in that movies tend to be a few hours and games can go for hundreds of hours, and 50 dollars feels fairly reasonable.

    I know that was somewhat of a tangent, but maybe if more people understood this they wouldn't mind the price aspect of gaming.
    Quote Originally Posted by Diff-chan View Post
    Careful. We're talking about games here. Fun isn't part of it.

  5. The only problem I have with game prices is that my weekly allowance ($10) is not enough to cover such an expensive hobby. Too many games, so little money. That's why I buy older games instead most of the time.

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