Do not watch this space for the next 48 hours

So, tomorrow happens to be one of the most frustrating days for many people. And while some will think that hiding dog excrement in their "friend's" shoes is a larf, many games will know to loathe and despise April Fools Day like the bastard child of the Gregorian calender it is.

Unfortunately, numerous sources have already been getting over excited and begun to dust off their cobwebby imaginations early. So forget any "MEGATONS!!1" you may have heard over the interweb - it's complete BS. I happened to come across a story on Wii60 earlier elaborating on plans for Nintendo to introduce DLC for 35 of its games, including Twilight Princess, Metroid and Brawl. Super. Predictably, the article was bashfully removed within hours.

So, if I do update the blog tomorrow with some major announcement that is too good to be true, take no notice. In fact, lets just not go on the internet tomorrow: that makes everything easier eh?

The Byron Report and what it means for the industry

If you have been anywhere near a television over the past few days, you will have likely happened to gaze upon a story concerning the video games industry and government calls for overhauling the age classification system in the UK.

It's unclear exactly who decided that a change was necessary, but I'll bet my murderous disposition that it was some ill-informed MP who perceives that all games are Columbine simulators. Keith Vaz then, probably. But a study was carried out nonetheless by Psychologist Tanya Byron, and the resulting changes are, shock horror, actually... not damaging at all to the industry. If one reads the report, they'd be pleasantly surprised to know that this shrink isn't actually a female Jack Thompson, and has put in place a plan that doesn't banish adult games to the point where anyone seen buying one would be ousted from British society as a middle-aged paedophile who lives with his mother.

Basically, before you know the changes, one has to understand how games are currently classified in the UK. Well the company who decides the age rating is an independent organisation called PEGI. Their age labels consist of:

3+
7+
12+
16+
18+

Now, some gamers may notice in their library that some of their more "mature" games have "that film logo on", IE, a BBFC rating of either 15 or 18. The BBFC are an "official" classification company who rate films in the UK, and regularly rate some of the more fruity games (like all Resident Evil games as 15 or Manhunt 2 as 18).

After this report, all video games will pass through PEGI as per usual, but if they feel the game is deserving of a !2 or above rating, they must be approved by the BBFC, who will then classify the games themselves. It isn't totally clear why this will avoid the illegal transaction of video games to minors, but the strength of an official (and familiar) logo may be enough to get the message across to parents that not all games are for children. A responsible parent wouldn't let little Timmy see a 15 rated film, so why would mummy buy him Grand Theft Auto. So technically, this shuffle shouldn't actually affect anything, but the subtleties of the the change might. To that degree, it's a well though-out plan. So kudos to Ms Byron for that .

But most importantly, this move may spell an end to the whinging of scores of MPs the industry has faced these past years.

Feature: The risks of modern games development

Long gone are the days where any geeky bedroom techy could programme a game within days and ship some tapes to their local store. With budgets exceeding Hollywood and the development phase enduring upwards of two years, publishers need to be certain that they make sufficient profit to keep themselves afloat in the choppy waters of 21st century video game production. Companies like Eidos are the ones who have paid the price of misjudging the sway of the consumers. We're at a stage now where some companies have no choice but to throw all their resources at a game to try and keep the hype train chugging along while they desperately get it translated for that last Eastern European country. But even if you know you're game is good or bad, you have to take risks.

Lets look at Factor 5 for example. These guys jumped on board with Sony when they realised they'd be joining the team in the lead in the hardware arms race. Here we had a developer that could make a truly great game with sheer power alone. The Rogue Squadron games remain both fan favourites and also the best looking games of last gen. Simply by adding so much atmosphere into the action, Factor 5 could make a masterpiece by fully utilizing the best hardware that was available. The plan was to do the same with Lair.


Pretty, no?

Upon it's announcement, people could see that Factor 5 were in their zone with PS3. They had the best hardware up their sleeves, and looked set to imitate their Rogue Squadron glory. Upon release, Lair failed miserable, both commercially and critically. Why? Because they let people play it.

It sounds harsh, but the initial critical reaction of your game is pivotal to the long-term outcome. Factor 5 misjudged that state of the industry. They couldn't foresee the phenomenon that was the Wii Remote. They didn't expect the glut of near-photo realistic games to appear on Xbox 360. They thought the road would be easy; that they could get away with ragged edges due to the prettiness of the game. When journos first got their hands on it, they needed to be impressed. Some of them had just got back from playing Gears of War, others had been wowed by Wii Sports. Would Lair give the PS3 a similar killer app? It wasn't to be. The consoles of the last gen were arguably clones: you could get away with more because people couldn't imagine things being much different. Factor 5 couldn't imagine anything being able to hold a candle to Lair, but with hindsight, they'd be lucky if the flame was still warm.

To reflect their mistakes, Julian Eggebrecht recently admitted that the reason they signed on for Lair was that the company needed money, and Sony seemed to be the one to provide. They were obviously wrong, and are now putting a new Wii game into production because frankly: that's where the money lies. If you have the God-given power to predict the industry, then it can become a harmonious loop, but if you continue to misjudge the flow of the fickle consumer, then it can be the most vicious of circles, and eventually ending up like the first company mentioned in this feature.


They'll survive, but how many more won't?

My lovely new blog.

If you are reading this post, feel special. Feel special for two reasons: Either this will go down in history as Aaron "D_prOdigy" Clegg's first foray into videogame journalism stardom, or at least feel fuzzly in the knowledge that you could be among the only 3 people who reads "just another nerd's blog"

Well nerd I am not. I mean, I'd love to be, but I just don't know how to be. HTML? FTP? WTF?

Over time, this blog will expand. Whether it draws in 2 readers or 2 million is irrelevent. All journos start somewhere and the younger the better. Today is the day I read a feature on the matter. Every single writer involved unanimously agreed that a blog was the best way to start a career. Write, write and write is what they said. And slap me over the head with a flannel and call me Mabel, I am going to write.

What can you expect from this blog? Well, if your really not into gaming then I'd suggest that little red cross in the corner, becuase you'd be more out of place than the Six Million Dollar Man in a magnet factory. I will be focusing most of my efforts on Nintendo-related stuff, but I could post all kind news if I deem it significant. Plus you can count on lots of random stuff too.

Keep tuned, because I'm at a time in life where there's not much more to do than sit at a PC, and I might as well try and reach out to as many people as I can in the process.

Viva la Revolution!