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Video games and the user experience, part 2
As I wrote recently in Video games and the customer experience: in the long term, in a competitive environment, the best experience will win. Video game makers are beginning to see their sales numbers bear this out.
From the Wall St Journal (may require registration, argh), Game Companies Worry as Players Grow Up, Grow Bored:
The games and hardware they run on turn some people off, too. Game makers have done an exceptional job of amping up the intensity level and graphical realism of their products with every new generation of hardware. They've also gotten incredibly complex, aided by a bewildering array of buttons and joysticks that festoon modern console controllers...
In recent years, the games industry has gotten much better at offering products for people who stopped playing consoles, or never played them, with "casual" games such as Tetris and Bejeweled for personal computers and mobile phones. Nintendo got religion early on the importance of expanding the audience of console gamers, where the vast majority of the industry's sales still occur. The company's Wii console and Nintendo DS hand-held game player, both featuring simplified controls and easy-to-learn games, were big holiday hits.
See also: Good Experience Games
(Thanks, Phil)
