Games Gone Wild - The Rise Of The Adult Title? 37
Thanks to GameSpot for its article discussing the alleged rise of the adult videogame, despite recent statistics that revealed "sales of Mature-rated titles were on the decline." The writer notes that the ESA "may be spinning the market-share shift as an overall decline in M-rated games demand", but goes on to mention: "The same week the ESA was saying interest in M-rated games was waning, the most-searched-for game on GameSpot was [previously covered M-rated title] The Guy Game." Elsewhere, Game Girl Advance has an article talking about new German-developed PC title Singles: Flirt Up Your Life!, in which "2 out of 12 possible archetypal characters (the eponymous 'Singles') wind up living in the same apartment... Your job is to make them get it on."
Adult videogame definition (Score:5, Insightful)
Age-stratification is essential to product targetting, and as today's first few generations of 'adults' have grown up with the presence of videogames, we should expect this market to be on the increase.
God I hate tabloid headlines (Score:5, Insightful)
The Sims has long been perverted/liberated for those who think there is nothing wrong with a bit of nudity. Morrowind has nude skins and missions wich add a bit of spice. Nevewinternights has some sex laden extensions.
So there is enough out there however the main market for games is japan and america. Most of us can not use games made for japan were adult themed games are an established market and so we mostly see games made in america or at least expecting to make most of their sales in the america.
This means games must be censored to be sold on the shelf. Don't like it? Though. Game developers want to make money and not being able to sell it in walmart or whatever hurts their bottomline.
You will note that many developers even go to the trouble of releasing two versions. One for the free world and one for american :P Vietcong comes in clean cut american pie mode and swear mode.
So I doubt we will be seeing more "adult" games. Although I did read that The Sims 2 will again have the potential for gay relationships. Since this was an accident in the originals sims they now seem to have made a conscious decision to leave it in. If the idea survives in the american release then perhaps their is hope after all.
"Adult" gaming (Score:4, Insightful)
It seems Max Payne 2 et al are Joe Twentysomething's idea of a "mature" game. I find that quite sad. The creators of Lula: Virtual Babe though, strangely enough, seem to want to appeal to people half his age.
I agree (Score:4, Insightful)
"The Guy Game"...well it's telling that it was IGNCube that reported it; which makes me wonder if this is just another cheap image push for Nintendo. Remember "Conker's Bad Fur Day"? Pathetic sales; we're talking ~1/10 that of Perfect Dark, which in turn is a rather far cry from Goldeneye. However CBFD had a large community of praisers, and gained respect around the Internet. Whether or not all these people had ever played the game was immaterial; it still produced the requisite "good publicity" for Nintendo.
As for this random game made in Germany that's a PC-only release well...first it sounds very obscure, and second I'm kind of surprised this hadn't been done already; PC+hackers with no life+Sims fan = that. All you'd need is for someone to leak the Sims source....
Looking vs. buying: buying loses (Score:5, Insightful)
That's all well and good. I'm sure that when news of them first broke, and upon their releases, games like BMX XXX and DOA Xtreme Beach Volleyball were highly-searched items too. But to my recollection, it wasn't reflected in their sales figures.
An actual adult doesn't have to worry about getting a ride to the store from his parents, or hiding a dubious game from them. Conversely, anyone of any age can (and usually will) snoop around for information, screenshots, and videos on said game.
Plus, in many one-dimensional 'adult' games (like the ones mentioned above), the only motivation to buy or even see them is for the dirty bits. When you can find these online for free, why bother with the rest of the game?
Re:Japanese H-Games (Score:4, Insightful)
The games that are very popular in japan don't get translated cuz the licensing fees are too high, and the US market won't really buy them as much as they sell in Japan.
The Bar for Mature games is higher (Score:4, Insightful)
If you buy a shitty game for you kid, you probably dont care too much that its shitty. But you do care if the game you bought for your self is Shitty.
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