In addition to sharing his thought on free-to-play (F2P) games, David Cage, best known for crafting Heavy Rain, and who is currently putting together Beyond: Two Souls, shared his thoughts on the current state of games with fellow attendees at DICE. And in the form of a talk that was entitled: "The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry That Refused to Grow Up."
Cage stated that video games are juvenile and disconnected from the real world. He also feels that video games, in particular, video game makers, can and should do better.
He went on to cite how gaming has barely changed since their introduction some 40 years ago. The objectives are more or less still the same, as are the mechanics. The same games are being made, which might be fine for kids Cage notes, but not necessarily so. He noted how a lack of innovation has resulted in all games playing virtually the same.
So to solve all these problems, he laid out nine points that might help fix things, courtesy of Gamasutra:
1. Make games for all audiences. Again, Cage believes that the industry needs to make games that cater towards more mature sensibilities.
2. Change our paradigms. Again, Cage believes that the same games are being made, and it's foolish to think that the market will continue to expand.
3: The importance of meaning. Cage believes that "many games have absolutely nothing to say". Cage's solution? Get more authors involved in the game making process. Plus, games should take on more real world themes and issues.
4: Become accessible. According to Cage, “Let's focus on minds of the players, and not how fast they can move their thumbs!”
5: Bring other talent on board. Cage brought up how once enlisted the services of David Bowie and Ellen Page, and how they added new perspectives to their respective projects.
6: Establish new relationships with Hollywood. Somewhat building upon his previous sentiment, Cage believes that game makers and movie makers should work closer together: "We can invent, together, a new form of entertainment… They master linear art, and we master interactivity. We should bring them together."
7: Changing our relationship with censorship. Cage mentioned how having his work censors actually improved his work: "Sometimes we go too far, and we behave like stupid teenagers ourselves… And we should stop doing this, because it's a matter of being responsible not only to our industry, but also to our society.”
8: The role of the press. Cage lamented how there are two side of video game reporting. Some people produce clever and insightful commentary, while others are just concerned with handing out scores. Cage wants to do away with the latter half and have something similar to the Cahiers Du Cinema, a film journal that influenced the French New Wave of cinema and movies as a whole.
9: The importance of gamers. Cage equated someone buying a game as someone casting a vote. "You decide if you want the industry to go in this direction or not go in this direction. Buy crap, and you'll get more crap. Buy exciting, risky games, and you will get more of them. When you buy games, you vote for where you want the industry to go."
Cage does make some compelling points, but the ones in which he articulates the game industry as not being able to not much on its own, without the help of Hollywood, are a tad bit disconcerting. After all, its not as if tinsel town is the apex of culture, diversity, and sophistication.
And never-mind how his games, thus far at least, haven't exactly pushed the envelope as it pertains to the gameplay spectrum. Unless QTEs are your thing.
