What is a great game

1
What is a great game?

• Lets look at some tables and find out

2
Most sales (all devices)
3
Most sales (no handhelds/ from PS, N64 era on)
4
Top 10 games by rating from metacritic
5
So What?

• If you want to make money, write a Mario game for
  a handheld.
• 8 of the top 10 games are on consoles that sold
  less than 25million units.
• Sales dont necessarily indicate a great game.
• Great games dont necessarily sell.

6
So what is a great game?

• A game that starts a new (or perfects an
  existing) genre
• A game that allows you to do something that
  couldnt be done before.
• For example
• Tetris (moving 2D graphics)
• GTA III (free roaming in 3D)
• Super Mario Bros (2D sprite HW)
• Civilization (CPU power)
• Lemmings (mouse)
• Guitar hero (new interface)
• Tony Hawks 3 (final level of polish)
• Resident Evil 4 (polish)

7
So where does the PS3 fit into this?

• Longevity
• Time is required to understand HW in order to
  polish.
• Power
• Want the grunt to do more than before.
• Extensibility
• Need the ability and support for new interfaces
• Experimentation
• New genres dont grow on trees.

8
The competitors

• Wii
• A nice toy to enjoy with the kids and grand
  parents, but ultimately underpowered.
• Weak online.
• X360
• Great for FPS, sports and racing games.
• Stable online.
• Familiar
• PS3
• Playstation offers true variation in game
  selection.
• PS3 offers new interfaces.
• Social and collaborative gaming user
  contributions (online innovation).
• Power to use all of the above in new and
  interesting ways.