Memos to the Video Game Industry: Audience

Dear Nintendo,

How's it goin' ole' buddy? We've been friends now for what, more than two decades? Do you remember me, when you crept into my life via our mutual friend Nathan Stangle? We started out with Metroid and Abadox and, despite Abadox, I became an avid fan of your video game system. I lost countless afternoons to Contra, Ninja Gaiden, Mega Man, Solar Jetman, Battletoads, Shadow of the Ninja, Double Dragon, Castlevania, all of your generic sports games, and every iteration of Super Mario Bros. You hosted some of the best third-party developers and gave me some killer first-party apps as well.

Then the 16-bit era arrived and our relationship only improved. You introduced me to Donkey Kong Country, Street Fighter, Zelda, Super Mario Kart, and role-playing games that didn't suck. In the ongoing Super Nintendo Vs. Genesis "rivalry", you made Sega's machine look like it showed up to the wrong fight. You said, "Sorry Gen-Gen, T-ball meets on the weekends. But while you're here, check out this drive." *swing*

Then things got complicated. You started making promises, promises of CD-Rom upgrades, silicon graphics, and 64-bit ultra power. And while you didn't turn out to be the liars that Atari were, you started chinking your own armor. The CD-Rom upgrade became the Sony PS. The "silicon graphics" looked nothing like a Pixar movie; hell, they didn't even look like Reboot. The 64-bit ultra 3-D power was rendered in a blurry 320X240.

I didn't care. I carried a torch for Nintendo, the f*cking Lewis and Clark of video games, and became your number one apologist. When PS fanboys bitched about plastic graphics, single-digit frame-rates and kiddy games, I pointed to the innovations of analog control and rumble functionality and how blisteringly hard it was to get 120 stars in Mario 64. I dropped $70 on Goldeneye and got back every penny in get-togethers with my high school friends. Then I dropped over $100 for Perfect Dark with the RAM pack and played alone. A lot. I was happy with the N64, the weird workhorse that gave me three (or less) must-have games a year. I had a job, so I used what I earned to get my fill of other genres on the PS.

I didn't care, Nintendo, that you were shooting yourself in the foot by standing by your cartridge format. When the third-parties jumped ship, I just refocused my attention to whatever you (and Rare) had in the pipeline, the same way you did. Then the Gamecube promised to put an end to all this mess and, for a time, it felt like that might happen. You revived classic franchises and wooed third-party companies with your powerful new game system. Everyone stood in awe of Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker, Mario Sunshine, and Metroid Prime. But the third-party support, on the whole, didn't come and you insisted on releasing some games that outright mocked your most devoted fans.

And now you have given us the Wii, a game system built on motion control and last-generation hardware. As a gaming watchdog, I have to give you props, Nintendo, for building such an affordable, daring game machine. Every quarter you outsell Microsoft and Sony, especially in these trying economic times. You're finishing what Sony began with the PS, that is, bringing gaming to the masses with the Wii Fit and mainstream-friendly versions of your franchises. There's also no shortage of cool games to get on virtual console. Unlike most video game-lovers, I have little negative to say about what you're doing now, except that you seem to have abandoned the audience that built you entirely.

That's right, Nintendo, you've become the Disney of video games: once a life-affirming, all-inclusive media giant that is not even a shell of its former self. I don't care that you publish crap by the barge-load on all of your game systems. You've always been the company that publishes anything--no matter how banal--even in your best of times. But what makes you the anti-game company now is the fact that you have nothing, literally nothing, coming in the pipeline for the average gamer. Notice I said average gamer. I'm not talking about the always-ranting gamer-snob who thinks EGM had it coming back in 1999. I don't mean the dude that perpetually thinks gaming fell apart seven years ago. I'm talking about the gamer who just loves your games, who bought Zelda: Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Super Mario: Galaxy and hasn't played anything of the same caliber on the Wii since.

We've tolerated much over the years from you, Nintendo, the game company that blazes its own trail, but that never apologizes for its missteps and willfully trips itself up. We've put up with crappy graphics, broken promises, vaporware, bad format decisions, a lack of 3rd-party support and, now the Wii, "the little white weirdo" (thank you, Heather Campbell) that arrogantly ignores the very gamer that made it possible. You don't even let us play it in 720p ferchrissake.

Remember where we stand, Nintendo. When the annals of history document you as the game company that began by saving the industry and ended by becoming the high-budget Tiger Electronics, remember that you abandoned us. You've had chance after chance to get third-parties back into the fold and rebuild your installed base. Instead, you've run the other way, right into my parent's living room, by dumbing down Mario Kart and making Super Smash Bros. a flagship property. While I don't mind getting in a game with Mother, I despair that the Wii gathers dust otherwise. And Super Smash Bros. sucks.

Much Love and Respect,
The Brute

Memos to the Video Game Industry: Character

Late in Grand Theft Auto 4, protagonist Niko Bellic tracks down Florian Cravic, who Niko suspects betrayed the Army unit both men fought in in the Bosnian war. Niko discovers that Florian isn't the man he's looking for, though Florian (like Niko) has tried to begin a new life in Liberty City. Florian now goes by Bernie Crane. He's out of the closet, teaches aerobics, and has a love affair with Liberty City's deputy-mayor Bryce Dawkins. Ironically, Dawkins got elected on the "Family Values" platform. So Niko and Florian become friends again, with Florian eventually asking Niko to help fend off a gay-basher in Middle Park. This mission, "Hating the Haters", positions the player to do exactly what they might expect: hunt down a homicidal homophobe.

Niko Bellic

This section of the game illustrates the state of the video game industry regarding lifestyle acceptance. In passing, Niko tells Florian that his new lifestyle shouldn't garner harassment and gladly wastes the hater. Yet, game developer Rockstar North cloaks Florian in gay stereotypes: sing-songy vocal intonations, effeminate hand-talking and excessive vanity.

Florian Cravic

It's this let's-have-it-both-ways mentality that drives Grand Theft Auto. All media in Liberty City is soaked in ironic condemnations of pop culture, but then the game uses dick jokes when cultural/political commentary won't do the job and the gags flop as much as they stick. For now, this can be accepted as cultural evolution in the video game industry, though it shouldn't necessarily be acceptable anywhere.

If the industry is serious about becoming an art form to the outside world, then game developers need to care more about the literary aspects of games. Naturally, this begins with scrapping stereotypes, but it also means defining a sincere, consistent ideology. Eventually, the player gathers that Rockstar is critical of conservative politics, but their methods answer more to Southpark than The Simpsons. When all else fails, they get crass and, unfortunately, undermine their own agenda.

Thankfully, Niko Bellic, GTA4's illegal immigrant protagonist, is a start towards serious character developement. He's a principled, honest anti-hero who wants to believe in the American Dream, but who keeps his cynicism in play. He attempts normalcy by shooting pool, checking e-mails and meeting women, but does this between committing murders and running drugs. And in the throes of a firefight, he becomes a madman drugged on survival adrenaline who taunts anyone keeping him from his objective. In this way, Niko Bellic is something of a U.S. Everycitizen, one who would quit the madness that is his life should he be able to rise above it.