Stifling Originality

The climate is changing.

And I don't mean global warming. I'm talking about the way video games have seen an enormous shift in the past few years. With titles like Bioshock doing well, it seems like developers are taking more and more chances on new intellectual properties. And we all thought originality was going down the drain.

Just a few years ago, it seemed as if we were destined to see a pattern consisting of nothing but sequels. Not that sequels are a bad thing. I for one enjoy seeing my favorite franchises updated and improved upon, but it gets tiresome when you don't see any innovation on the horizon.

Luckily that is no longer the case. With the new generation of consoles, we are seeing a return to casual games, all made possible by downloadable content. A few years ago, it seemed as if the days of small developers had gone the way of the dodo. Thankfully, they are making a comeback, albeit slowly. But its better late than never. Some of the best original content comes from a few guys (or gals) sitting around tossing out crazy ideas, enjoying themselves, and making games because they love doing it, not just because they have to churn out the next mediocre edition of Madden to meet a yearly deadline.

Which brings me to another point: EA's attempt at a hostile take-over of Take-Two. This is one of the worst possible things that could happen to the industry. If EA manages to control enough shares of Take-Two, not only will sports gaming be utterly in the palm of EA, but their profits from the Grand Theft Auto franchise (along with others) will further propel them to the status of monopolistic gods of the gaming industry. Competition is a healthy thing, and although EA currently offers the best in football, if it manages to control Take-Two, it will destroy any semblance of competition that exists now. The NCAA and Madden franchises will devolve into nothing more than the same game being produced every twelve months with a new year slapped on the cover, even though this is essentially what is happening now.

So hopefully the Federal Trade Commision will do the right thing and declare the hostile take-over a monopolistic effort, and EA will have to actually improve their own franchises instead of thinking about how to steal others only so they can turn a profit without ensuring quality. What we really need is for a development studio to really get in the dirt with EA and crank out some stellar football games to take them down a notch. Then, and only then, will EA actually feel the pressure to compete, and use their enormous resources to make games truly worthy of the fans who play them.