Beyond Cliché

BY RAFFY BOUDJIKANIAN

raffy.boudjikanian@transcontinental.ca

I read an excellent piece of news last week.

According to French video game magazine Jeuxvidéo Mag, famed game designer Michael Ancel has begun work on a sequel to one of the most criminally undersold games of the last few years, an excellent sci-fi action-adventure called Beyond Good & Evil.

Meanwhile, cheap, downloadable games available on services such as X-Box Live, the Playstation Network or Wiiware are allowing smaller developers to come out with original software and make a name for themselves before risking too much money on a larger, retail product.

These are signs the industry is slowly looking into new places for inspiration. However, I think we've still got a long way to go. Software development is so expensive that only the biggest studios have a chance to produce high-quality titles, and the relatively enormous cost is just not allowing them to take a risk. Heck, look at this year's latest big releases: Grand Theft Auto IV and Mario Kart Wii.

Sure, these titles have excellent production values and play very well too. The problem is they're sequels to long-running franchises, and whereas they are of a pretty decent quality, the same cannot be said for the countless rip-offs they inspire in the hopes of a quick cash-in.

It seems like we are stuck in a vicious circle. Gamers aren't willing to spend around $50 on an unproven name. This sends publishers the message they shouldn't sink the cash into original projects.

What else is needed to help small developers? They're already getting more support in the last couple of years than they have in ages thanks to the aforementioned download services. I can think of at least two other solutions though. Both of them are based on another industry that video games have been ripping ideas off of for years: cinema.

Firstly, give independent developers somewhere to show off their ware. Why not have our Sundance or World Film Festival? We already have our Cannes with E3, the annual summer expo in Los Angeles where every developer and publisher show off their upcoming titles in the hopes of attracting attention. Every single gamer in the world looks forward to it. There is just one problem. With so much stuff to cover, the press tend to focus only on all the big names due to lack of resources. The small fries largely get shafted.

Now imagine a smaller venue where independent software houses can come together and show each other what they've been working on. Media coverage here would serve a dual purpose. Free of the lure cast by the next big shiny Konami or Electronic Arts hit, the public would likely pay more attention. More importantly, so would potential publishers.

Secondly, when a publisher does decide to back an unknown entity, they should promote them better and avoid putting them up against bigger games come release time. There is a reason why most 2008 tear-jerker Oscar nominee films will come out sometime in the fall and not a week after the new Batman.

For video games, quiet time is usually summer, so this might be the ideal release window for original software.

So, Ubi Soft, if you do decide to pick up the sequel to Beyond Good and Evil (and I really hope you do), please don't make the asinine decision to have it on store shelves during the 2009 holiday season like you released the original during November 2003, dooming it to an instant trip to the discount bin.