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Now that the haze of the first 6 weeks of parenting is starting to clear and my brain is working again, it’s been thinking about a few things.

1. Active TV - I don’t really have another phrase for it, but the idea is that your visuals for your story work on multiple levels to keep people engaged. Story information hidden in the background, out of focus background action that is actually worth paying attention to, etc. The new show Traveller does this a fair bit. In one shot, Will Traveller, thought to be dead, is in the background taking photos of another character. In another scene, a definitive bald man shows interest in the character in the foreground, but we haven’t seen the bald man again. I hope he shows up later. It’s TV made for Tivo. You can rewind and say ‘Is that Will Traveller in the background?’. Multiple viewings anyone?

Thinking about applying the same ideas to video games creates a lot of potential.

2. Made for the medium (M4M): Wii is kicking ass, and most publishers are rushing out to make Playstation games for the Wii, instead of making Wii games for the Wii. Know your platform, its audience and how people consume on that platform. What does this mean for web games? Web comics? Live Arcade games? And of course, the future of PC games?

The desktop is dead and the laptop is becoming the primary PC platform. How would you design an enthusiast PC game differently for a laptop gamer? Touchpad vs. mouse? How long are play sessions? How do you satisfy these needs without nerfing the desktop experience? What about Mac gaming?

And I also find myself wondering why almost every web comic is simply a print comic on the web. What else can be done with the medium?

3. Other stuff:
A) The primary consumer for video games is in their 20’s. The next generation of people in their 20’s don’t like paying for stuff. It’s a generation full of consumers who download music, movies and games for free. How does the western gaming industry adapt? Can we adapt? The old guard of EA, Activision, Ubisoft and THQ have been making a lot of money for a long time in the same way. Which publisher will have the courage to see the writing on the wall?

B) In 5 years, we’ll live in a world of mass-market gaming. Live Arcade, web casual, mobile/cell phone, DS and Wii are going to be the most popular gaming platforms. Xbox, PC enthusiast and other enthusiast platforms will become the niche. The industry for enthusiast gamers won’t shrink, but the mass market will grow and the publishers will adapt to chase the money. Where does this leave the enthusiast developer and industry as a whole?

C) In the same way Star Wars took SF to a whole new audience in the late 70s/early 80s, Harry Potter, Lost and Heroes have taken contemporary fantasy to the same level of acceptance. What does this mean for gaming content that is almost always sword-sorcery fantasy, sci-fi or reality based? Where are the contemporary fantasy games? So far, only a few developers are chasing this and those that are, are doing so tentatively.

D) At Emerald City Comic-Con there was a group of student comic artists. They were ALL young girls drawing in manga style. Not a boy drawing super heroes in the bunch. What does this mean for games, comics, animation and TV?

There is a growing tide of geek girls and most entertainment producers have no idea.

E) Why are video games marketed like productivity software instead of entertainment? Can you imagine looking at the back of a novel and seeing bullet points listing the number of worlds you explore and ships you get to pilot? We are creating experiences and selling features. We should be creating and selling the same thing - experiences and emotions.

Reading: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Scott Pilgrim, too many RSS feeds.
Watching: Traveller, Andromeda (while my favorite shows are on summer break)
Listening: Tales of Heroes, G4W podcast
Playing: Company of Heroes, Dice Wars, Spider-Man 3 on Wii
Wondering long and hard about: Finding the balance between family, work and personal projects.