I have covered every system launch since the dawn of gaming. I covered the launch of the Mac Clone, the Intellivision and the Atari 2600. Before that I played Colecovision football and hockey.
I remember my dad taking us to the store around Christmas time. The Colecovision football game was $100 plus tax. Back then that was equivalent to $400 now. He could have bought it that day, but my sisters wouldn’t have gotten the toys they wanted. So I deferred until the next payday. On that day my dad and I went to the store, picked up the game, then collected some A&W burgers for everyone on the way home.
My dad is gone now, but he will never be forgotten. The way he raised me and taught me so much, has even prepared me for this Pandemic. I teach my son the way he taught me. I treat my son the way he treated me. We were best friends, but he was always my dad and what he said was done with no questions asked.
In the coming days and weeks we will answer the following questions.
People often ask me which system launch was the best?
Why did the 3DO fail?
Why did the Dreamcast fail?
Which system will be better in this console cycle the PlayStation 5 or Microsoft Series X?
What about the Nintendo Switch and what will Nintendo need to do?
How well will the Intellivision Amico do?
Well, Tommy Tallarico has the helm of that system. I think it will do pretty well considering the games will be affordable and Tommy T knows how to
rock and roll. We will also talk about the most under rated game franchises.
In this article I will answer all of these questions. Not with hyperbole or because I want one console to outdo the other. I want gaming to grow, I want more people to play games and enjoy the craft. I would like to see game developers use their imagination and get off of the cookie cutter rollercoaster. I would like former Pepsi executives to stay the hell out of gaming and stick with their consumer products and careers. They have been ruining this industry for years. They need to let gamers determine their business models and drive the business. Publishers need to take chances on new intellectual properties and give smaller game developers a voice and a means to hone their craft.
The late Peter MacDougall former Nintendo of Canada president, and Nintendo of America VP of Sales and Marketing and I would visit after each CES or E3 to chat about the state of gaming. We would sit in the Nintendo cafe, grab a cold drink and talk. I enjoyed his company and the passion he had for the video game business. He wanted all of the other platforms to do well, and felt that the more gamers there were, regardless of their affiliation, was good for the overall
health of the industry.
Peter MacDougall together with Trip Hawkins former Electronic Arts founder and 3DO kingpin, Bing Gordon of Electronic Arts, Peter Main of Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto of Nintendo, Don Transeth of Electronic Arts, Ed Fries of Microsoft, all helped build the gaming industry and set the foundation for what we have today.
On the game development side Epic Games, Digital Extremes of London Ontario, David Perry of Shiny Entertainment, the Earthworm Jim Game, Gordon Bellamy of Madden Game, David Scott Jaffe of Sony Twisted Metal and God of War game all had a dramatic and Herculean impact onthe games we love and play today. A few others had a Spartacus type existence in the industry, but they fell on their swords.
There were a few others that had a cup of coffee in the gaming industry and made a bit of a splash, but if I didn’t name them here they were either forgettable or not worth mentioning. There maybe a few exceptions, but we can deal with them later on.
2020 and beyond will be pivotal for a number of reasons. We will see which platform delivers the goods and can hold their lead in the case of Sony with the PlayStation 5 or will Microsoft be able to climb the mountain with the Microsoft Series X. I am not holding out much hope for Microsoft, but that’s why we play the games. In this case sell the consoles.
It will remain to be seen if download only consoles will make headway with gamers. Gamers are collectors and they like finished products to display. They buy characters and want to know that when they pay $100 for a game, that they will have their gaming content readily available. Gamers want to be able to use any of the games they have purchased whenever they want to.
Nintendo and the Switch will have something to say about what happens moving forward. The Nintendo Switch is a formidable foe and some well-placed Mario games new ones, not rehashed ones.
The biggest mistake that is probably making Peter MacDougall roll over in his grave is the re- purposing of the old Wii and Wii U content. They are adding a few small things, then re- packaging them and selling them for top dollar on the Switch. I paid $100 with tax for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. There are only four new tracks so that means gamers paid $25 per track for the new content. Nintendo could make it up to us by adding a few new tracks as downloadable content for a reasonable price, but I am still waiting.
Splatoon 2 and others also had a lot of content that I have seen before. Nintendo needs to realize to keep its throng of Nintendo-ites happy it has to deliver new gaming experiences and give gamers their money’s worth, not just monetize old content for the sake of the almighty dollar.
Animal Crossing New Horizons helped their cause and this is one of the best games they have
ever made.
Check out our review of this game and our two articles on how to enjoy this game better.
Send us a note at todd@thegamebutler.com or info@thegamebutler.com.
(Parents and game publishers need to realize that game addiction is a disease and need to formulate a plan to deal with this problem that is becoming an epidemic.)