BRETT MCCALLON | AT PLAY | July 28th 2008

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Of course game publishers want to attract casual players and mainstream consumers. But all these cuddly new user-friendly games (Wii Fit?) have hardcore gamers feeling neglected and bored, writes Brett McCallon ...

The E3 Media and Business Summit was held in Los Angeles from July 15th-17th. This annual event, which gathers game developers, publishers and the games press for demonstrations of new games and hardware, always results in an orgy of web and print coverage from dedicated outlets, and heated message-board exchanges among game fans who debate the ramifications of every scrap of news.

At one time, E3 represented the centre of the video-gaming calendar for me and millions like me. Every year, we waited with bated breath to learn what the big publishers, and especially the three main console manufacturers (Sony, Nintendo and Microsoft) would announce in their never-ending battle for the hearts, minds and wallets of gamers. E3 was the place where Sony's Playstation was announced, where the Nintendo Wii's revolutionary gesture-based control scheme was unveiled, where the most exciting games had their first showings in front of breathless crowds.

But things have changed. E3 has shrunk from a full-blown spectacle luring more than 60,000 attendees to a boutique event designed to maximise face-time between press and developers. The show has outgrown its function as a noisy, flashy extravaganza intended to draw mainstream media attention. Now it is simply a generally overlooked (if lucrative) corner of the entertainment industry. After all, the battle for media coverage largely has been won; in-depth games reporting is now a regular feature of most popular culture outlets.

For devoted gamers like myself, there has been an even bigger shift at E3. It was only as I watched Nintendo's press conference this year that I began to understand the full implications. Right before my eyes, the holiest week of hardcore gaming news was softening its message. The games being advertised were not aimed at me. They were aimed at my mother.

Nintendo's overwhelming triumph with the Wii console has been the biggest surprise of this generation of gaming. That success has largely come from the company's ability to attract non-gamers to their system. Expanding the appeal of gaming beyond the devoted has long been seen as the holy grail of the business. The rest of the industry has been scrambling to ape Nintendo's recent success.

But while Nintendo has pleased millions of parents, seniors, single women and others who wouldn't normally call themselves "gamers" with casual hits like "Wii Sports", "Wii Play", and the exercise game "Wii Fit", many ardent long-term fans feel left behind. Hardcore gamers welcome innovations, and indeed were among the loudest advocates of the Wii after it was announced. But many have felt let down by marquee Wii titles, as these games often lack depth. The pick-up-and-play aspect that makes them instantly appealing also frustrates gamers, who expect engrossing experiences that excite and challenge for dozens of hours. These casual hits also tend to be light on customisation options, as well as rewards for increasing skill. Few hardcore gamers continued playing "Wii Sports" for more than a few weeks, while games like Microsoft's "Halo 3" can keep them coming back for months or even years.

Gamers whose Nintendo fandom is based on the company's legendary franchises ("Mario", "Zelda" and "Metroid", among dozens of others) were initially pleased with the Wii's success. It was vindication for the well-loved company that had struggled over the last few console generations. And Nintendo, in return, reliably pumped out iterations of each of the above franchises for the new console. But for the last two years, Nintendo's E3 press conferences have been noticeably light on follow-up announcements for these and other Nintendo franchises. The company has not announced a single new first-party franchise designed to appeal to devoted players.

The result has been a schism, with Nintendo and the mainstream press on one side, and the gaming press and hardcore gamers on the other. This divide started becoming clear at E3 2007, when Nintendo announced only one new Wii title with deep gameplay mechanics at its press conference ("Mario Kart Wii"), dedicating most of its conference to the "Wii Fit" game and balance-board package. The gaming press was nearly unanimous in declaring that Nintendo had "lost" the E3 press-conference war (with Sony or Microsoft generally viewed as the "winner"). The mainstream press, meanwhile, tended to anchor its E3 coverage around Nintendo, spreading the word about the company's exciting new input mechanism, which promised to bring new game experiences to still more non-gamers.

This year offered more of the same: Nintendo's nod to the hardcore was a new iteration of "Animal Crossing", a game that has historically attracted both casual and serious gamers. Meanwhile, the conference's spotlight was fixed on "Wii Music", a game that attempts to simplify the music genre popularised by the "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" series (which I've written about). Again, the idea here is to attract more casual consumers, as "Wii Music" apparently doesn't require players to follow a set rhythm. Instead, the game converts player motions into vaguely appropriate-sounding notes, based upon when and how the player swings his arms, blows into the Wii controller, etc. E3 attendees' reaction to this "dumbed-down" rhythm game was unambiguously negative. Their feelings were only magnified when Shigeru Miyamoto, a legendary videogame designer, confirmed that Wii Music isn't really a game, but rather a "toy".

Even Microsoft and Sony have concentrated more on attracting casual gamers. Sony has thrown significant support behind "Little Big Planet", a cuddly combination of game and game-construction set, and has spent the last several years working on "Playstation Home", an ambitious online virtual hangout. Microsoft, which has traditionally struggled in this area, announced a slew of casual-friendly games at this year's E3 press conference, as well as new, cartoony "Avatars" for its Xbox Live online service (which bear a suspicious resemblance to Nintendo's popular, customiseable Mii characters).

This is all disconcerting for serious gamers. The mainstream success of our hobby may lead to a gaming industry dominated by simple, casual experiences, which don't appeal to those of us who cut our teeth on platformers, first-person shooters and role-playing games. For every new retiree, empty nester or single woman who embraces Wii gaming, there's a male, 18-34 hardcore gaming fan who is beginning to feel like a cranky old relic in his own hobby.

Now get off my lawn, you darn kids. I've got some "Halo 3" to play.

Picture credit: gamerscoreblog/flickr

(Brett McCallon is a writer based in New Orleans. He has also written about "Grand Theft Auto", the high-art of "BioShock" and about being in a "Rock Band" band.)