N'Gai Croal's LevelUp posts an opinion piece from SportsBlogNation president (and brother of Gears of War designer Cliff Bleszinski) Tyler Bleszinski regarding the emergence of a new gaming market fostered by Nintendo's Wii and DS. While the media in general has been singing praises of both consoles in making gaming relevant outside of the traditional gaming market, Bleszinski feels their success in drawing a new breed of (non)gamers could become a double-edged sword. On one hand, expanding the gaming market is always a good thing for business, but on the other it stands to make "core" gaming a niche market.

It should be noted Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime has already stated repeatedly that his company in no way intends to abandon the "core" gaming base in favor of attracting the casual crowds. Will Nintendo be able to live up to it all? Here are some sample quotes from Bleszinski:

I'm not saying that the videogame industry shouldn't strive to bring in as many new people as possible. It most definitely should, because new gamers mean a nice, healthy business. My problem is what this new crowd appears to be drawn to. Games like Wii Sports, Wii Play and Cooking Mama have become some of the biggest sellers, and that is what has me worried. If these are the type of games that become blockbusters, then you can count on other gaming companies who cater to the more hardcore gamer--aka me and the milions of others who've been driving this business--to promptly change direction. If we've learned anything about videogame companies, it's that they all are quick to follow each other if one is successful with something.

I'll repeat this again: I am not saying that the more hardcore games are going to die out. Smart developers and publishers will realize that they can make a mint off the hardcore, especially if more developers move towards the quick, jump in-jump out type of experience that many Wii and DS games offer. But they will be in the minority. Valve, Epic and others won't turn to making mini-game compilations, but I can definitely see companies like EA and Ubisoft realizing that they don't need huge development teams and hundreds of people working on a game to make a ton of cash in the land of mini-game moneymakers. It's like suddenly discovering that business plan behind McDonald's is applicable to video games.

I sincerely believe that bringing new people to video games is a good thing. I like seeing the business continue to grow and be even more successful, because I'm old enough to remember the videogame industry crash between the Atari 5200 and the Nintendo Entertainment System. But ultimately, going more mainstream can have unintended consequences--ones that could negatively impact the breadth and depth of the kinds of games that I love, as do millions of others.

Wolfwood via blog.newsweek.com »