Andy Phelps Proposes 'B-Sides' For Games 40
Andy Phelps has once again begun blogging. A recent post of his to the Corante Tech site suggests an intriguing idea: B-Sides to major commercial games. "I think there is an interesting opportunity here: stick some "B-Side" experimental games on the DVD with the big title. Little Flash games, or student games, or Internet games that haven't taken off yet. Don't advertise them on the box, sell the "big game" just like always." Thanks to Hylton Jolliffe for the submission.
PR's not gonna OK that... (Score:3, Insightful)
Hmm... (Score:5, Insightful)
Not everyone has a high-speed internet connection.
Not everyone has internet access, period.
Not everyone is willing to leave their computer on all night for a download when they're being billed for the amount of time that they're connected to the internet.
Not everyone has access to a GameStop, EB, or a store that sells more games than the big-budget titles that Wal-Mart sells.
Not everyone feels comfortable buying games online.
Beyond all of this, the fact remains that publisher pays the development team, even a relatively small amount ($10,000, perhaps) might more than cover the costs of making the game.
Really, who loses out if a company decides to try this? All we'd lose would be the pretty screenprinting on the top of the CD, and that's not a very big loss...
Gaming B-Sides already exist (Score:5, Insightful)
These major ones spring to mind:
Pyoro 1 and 2 in Warioware Inc. Fantastic fun little things
The lightgun game Demolition Racer for Dreamcast. Lovely fun little game
The useless VMU games and both Pocketstation games that no-one ever played
Galaxians in the Ridge Racer loading screen
All the retro games in modern titles (PoP and the NES games in Animal Crossing)
NiGHTs and Puyo Pop for GBA in PSO and Billy Hatcher for GC
Blackhole Assault with an inbuilt pong game
After Googling, there's a whole FAQ full at http://www.steverd.com/faqs/hiddengames.htm - dates back to 1999, but the point is still there.
Nice idea. (Score:3, Insightful)
Loading... (Score:4, Insightful)
shmubject (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:But they don't want it (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Hmm... (Score:1, Insightful)
Not everyone feels comfortable buying their girl tampons at the store, but that doesn't mean you get them as free pack-ins with Tomb Raider! Seriously though, I doubt any publisher would go for this, that's what their jewel case value software divisions are for.
Re:Not Interested... (Score:3, Insightful)
bah. on one hand, your 'sense of history' fashions the statement 'represented a unique channel of distribution' as a lecture of pre-modern 'media'.
on the other hand, your flimsy argument dismisses all that implies, entirely, when applied to 'back of the DVD scan-in' "alternative-channel" video games/hacks.
the point is, video games mfr's have "MORE CHANNELS THAN THEY KNOW", in that they can create a sub-market/culture/environment with sneaky 'B-side' style thinking in their box delivery channel. do for videogame
In other words, put stuff physically *ON* the DVD which makes it more valuable, so that its not so 'readily' depreciable by online content delivery systems.
this is 'B-side' thinking.
It's even kind of interesting. But I don't see how it would do anything for resurrecting "innovation in gaming" any more than new channels of distribution (e.g. the Internet) are already doing.
In the eyes of a media person, the notion of 'unique channel' is an interesting one. What I hope comes of this is renewed thinking on the part of 'media giants' on the values of independent channels, created at will by any group who wills it.
This is the lesson of the Internet, after all, that it is groups of people, organized, who get things done/make things happen/blow big bubbles... if they create a 'counter-culture' B-side media channel on their boxes and in their games packages, I could see there being a lot of interest in actually buying these things at retail.
Bar-code videogames/cheat-codes that work with Nintendo and are printed on my XBox game CD might make for some interesting 'warfare' among the media giants..