I was wondering last night, before I went to bed, how many sleeper video games in store shelves have the potential to be best of breed, but for the simple fact that they aren't published by big companies like EA, Activision, etc., with their all-out advertising campaigns these games go overall unnoticed by the public eye. They sit on store shelves basking under fluorescent lights just waiting for a chance to be played. Alas it is not to be more often than not as they are overshadowed by high-profile games in the likes of Halo 3, COD 4, etc. Little do they know how harmful those lights are. What awaits these niche games is both unimaginable and terrifying. I warn you now to hit the back button for what I have to say in the following is disturbingly graphic.
If you're reading this you're probably crazy.
When I walk through the video game isles at a store the flavor of the month is usually on the front and top shelves ready to be snatched up. These go out like hot cakes. With the red carpet rolled out they sit proudly on the shelves with accompanying life-size poster boards with gleaming neon lights and perhaps a boothbabe or two to hand them out to customers. You simply can't miss it. You're involuntarily attracted to it like a magnet as soon as you enter the store. You leave the store with ten copies of the game and wonder what had just happened.
But that's not where I'm taking you today. We're taking the beaten path, a fork on the road less travelled. That's right. We're going to the back isles, where forgotten video games breathe their last breath of life, where the lights aren't as bright and surveillance cameras are absent. In here we'll pass games you've never heard of, published by some obscure company, priced reasonably low, and makes you wonder if the game is worth playing. You'll probably snicker at most of these games with titles like Moomoo Invasion, Squirrel Hunt, and my favorite Haylo III. But amongst these hack titles there are gems with luster that makes their counterpart, high-profile games look like coal dust. But in the end who really gives a damn? I do, but I'm in the minority so who cares. If it doesn't have a red carpet debut then it probably will go unnoticed.
What happens to these games you ask? No, they don't go to some third world country to be played by homeless people. Very few know this and it's unfortunate that I do: In the back of retail stores all over the world are forges where video games are destroyed. Boxes are shredded and recycled to make cup holders for McDonalds and disks are melted down to make gift cards that we all know and love to receive during Christmas. The hint sound of the roaring furnace is the only account left that these video games ever existed.
This leads me to my self-answered question whether it takes an EA or Activision to make a successful game. It probably does more often than I'd like to admit. With an advertising-driven economy they are at the top of the hierarchy. And with big funding to throw anything at your face whether you like or not the little publishers that could will be lucky to even sell a game at a 99¢ store.
So next time you use your BestBuy gift card just remember how many crap games and a few gems was destroyed to give you the opportunity to buy the next big hit.
If you're reading this you're probably crazy.
When I walk through the video game isles at a store the flavor of the month is usually on the front and top shelves ready to be snatched up. These go out like hot cakes. With the red carpet rolled out they sit proudly on the shelves with accompanying life-size poster boards with gleaming neon lights and perhaps a boothbabe or two to hand them out to customers. You simply can't miss it. You're involuntarily attracted to it like a magnet as soon as you enter the store. You leave the store with ten copies of the game and wonder what had just happened.
But that's not where I'm taking you today. We're taking the beaten path, a fork on the road less travelled. That's right. We're going to the back isles, where forgotten video games breathe their last breath of life, where the lights aren't as bright and surveillance cameras are absent. In here we'll pass games you've never heard of, published by some obscure company, priced reasonably low, and makes you wonder if the game is worth playing. You'll probably snicker at most of these games with titles like Moomoo Invasion, Squirrel Hunt, and my favorite Haylo III. But amongst these hack titles there are gems with luster that makes their counterpart, high-profile games look like coal dust. But in the end who really gives a damn? I do, but I'm in the minority so who cares. If it doesn't have a red carpet debut then it probably will go unnoticed.
What happens to these games you ask? No, they don't go to some third world country to be played by homeless people. Very few know this and it's unfortunate that I do: In the back of retail stores all over the world are forges where video games are destroyed. Boxes are shredded and recycled to make cup holders for McDonalds and disks are melted down to make gift cards that we all know and love to receive during Christmas. The hint sound of the roaring furnace is the only account left that these video games ever existed.
This leads me to my self-answered question whether it takes an EA or Activision to make a successful game. It probably does more often than I'd like to admit. With an advertising-driven economy they are at the top of the hierarchy. And with big funding to throw anything at your face whether you like or not the little publishers that could will be lucky to even sell a game at a 99¢ store.
So next time you use your BestBuy gift card just remember how many crap games and a few gems was destroyed to give you the opportunity to buy the next big hit.
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