Can the video games industry make a 'B Game'?

http://www.gamasutra.com/php-bin/news_index.php?story=22568

by stepherm • 17 years ago

2 1 17 years ago

They already do, all the time. The difference between B-movies and B-games is the effort involved to make something that provides passive vs. interactive entertainment. People will sit through an entire movie as long as it doesn't completely suck. To play through a game, it has to be genuinely good on several counts or seriously good at at least one thing.

Ex: My favorite B-game that I remember playing was Black on the original XBox. It basically scrapped all the evolution of the FPS genre over the past decade: laughably nonexistent storyline, dumb AI, old school style health packs randomly laying around. The team focused entirely on the weapons and the intensity of the firefights; I still don't think any game has had better weapon sounds since. Played through it in a week, had tons of fun, never felt a need to pick it up again. Though, after writing this, I might try to track down a copy.

Can the video games industry make a 'B Game'?

Related Stories