Wow, time flies when you are having fun. And time is money. So money flies when you are having fun. Especially when you spending over and over on games that, according to GamesRadar, haven’t really changed all that much over the last 10 years, even though (they are very quick to add) you may actually find them enjoyable.

Taking a sharp poke at fanboys who are seething with rage and burning up the Intertubes right now with death threats, the article takes a look at how games like Metal Slug, Guilty Gear, Football Manager, Virtua Fighter, Pokemon, Crash Bandicoot, Street Fighter and yes, even the Nintendo fan favorite, The Legend of Zelda, hasn’t evolved as much the other franchises like Super Mario, Prince of Persia or even (oh boy) Sonic! Trying to fix the situation, the GamesRadar article offers tips to developers on how they can reinvent the games, like maybe making the trip to the third dimension or adding more open-ended freedom to a platformer like Crash Bandicoot (this doesn’t sound too bad, Kameo could do it) or do something innovative with the Wii controller instead of ripping off the gameplay from Ocarina of Time all over again.

Yes, changes are required, and a lot of franchises have tried lots of new concepts - some are hugely successful, like Super Mario, Prince of Persia, Tomb Raider, Rainbow Six, etc. whereas others, like Sonic, have blown up in the developers’ faces. While some games lend themselves to a change, it has to be done in such a way that it attract a load of old gamers without leaving true fans high and dry, like Sega seems to have done in the recent years. The best thing to do is to ask the gamers what they want to see change in their favorite games. Chances are that if you sit down and talk to your target audience and long time fans, you will unearth a rare gem among the piles of garbage that will inevitably pour in. Also, game developers have to understand that, sometimes, its best to start a new franchise instead of flogging the dead horse.

Almost as if to counterpoint the whole issue, especially with the Sonic debacle, Sega is now looking to mature games like Condemned 2, Alien and comic book adaptations such as Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Captain America and Thor to help them rise to the top tier of videogame publishers. Let’s hope Sonic can make some dent and rise again in the eyes of his fans with the upcoming Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games, and yes, quite possibly, even Super Smash Bros.!

Games that haven’t changed in ten years [Games Radar]
Sega Goes Beyond Sonic [BusinessWeek]

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