This is the first installment of what will be the quintessential gaming gossip column for the ages. Our goal will be to inform, entertain and tell you like it is and how it’s going to be in the wild wild west of gaming, not because Stone Cold said so, but because the Gaming Medium said so. I have been around gaming for close to 35 years and I know where the skeletons are buried. Like Kenny Rogers I know when to hold them and when to fold them and I will tell you when the dealing is DONE!
I know how the business works and how the business should be run. I know that when you’re on top the public relations folks take your calls and pretend to be your friend and then when you’re not on top, they treat you like yesterday’s trash and won’t take your calls or act like they don’t know who you are. Well we are back in the saddle again, and there’s a new Sheriff in town. Integrity boys and girls is the word for this week’s column. We will rock and roll strut and stroll, make it rain and make it pour gaming information the likes of which you have never seen. Because the mainstream gaming media is like the Trump presidency, broken and failed!
The war will be won between Microsoft and Sony, by the developers they choose and by the games they bring out on the system. Very little will be won in the boardroom by people who were brought in because of their marketing prowess in other industries. The biggest advice I can give video game companies, is to make sure gamers are involved in the industry not ex-Pepsi or Coke executives. The business doesn’t run like any other business. It runs because the gaming content is King. Gamers know what they want and how they want it. They don’t want to be force fed horse hockey chips in the form of media they don’t want and extras they don’t want and shouldn’t pay for.
The sole purpose companies should be focusing on is to put content in the games and make the games fun. Here in this space we will hold these people accountable, right here on this website. If they don’t want to tell you like it is, we will. The big three are all guilty to some extent. Nintendo needs to get their head out of their bottoms and make new intellectual property not rehash games that didn’t sell well on the Wii or Wii U due to a lack of an installed base. Shortcuts in life never work. If Nintendo wants to continue to get momentum, they will need to follow my advice. Get a new Mario Kart out with all new tracks and a few new characters from other Nintendo titles. A new Zelda with some awesome features and yes, I am gulping and gasping for air when I say this, but a few new Pokemon adventures wouldn’t hurt. As the gaming medium looks into the gaming fire, I can see a new Injustice 3 on the horizon as well as a new Mortal Kombat. I can also see Grand Theft Auto 6 in the cards, made in Canada by RockStar North by 2023, released first on the PlayStation 5 and then on the Xbox One X and Nintendo Switch. Nintendo is working on some new form of hardware, that no one is sure what it will be or look like, but it will do very well against Sony and Microsoft.
As for who will win the next generation war, it is going to be a close race. This time Microsoft will have the “Killer Instinct”, pardon the pun and will deliver what gamers have been craving.
Sony and the PlayStation 5 have the lead going into the next generation fight, but they will be tripping over themselves at the top. In fighting the likes of the Trump inner cabinet will cloud everyone’s vision and allow Microsoft to take the lead. If they are smart, have an innovative strategy and pay big bucks for exclusives, they will not only be able to take the lead, but will they be able to hold the lead.
If you have a comment on the industry or want us to share some gaming gossip make sure you write us info@thegamebutler.com. Until next week my fellow buckaroos the Gaming Medium will be looking into his Crystal Ball, wearing his mask, eating his vittles and taking his vitamins!
Until next week….