All of the stuff that he complains about, Nintendo has basically been addressing. New genres. New ways to play games. Independent developer help. Cheap development costs.
Sure, Nintendo has it's fair share of "brands" but they still manage to make each installment of a franchise new and exciting.
We all hate the games industry for ruining games but when someone finally does something about it (Nintendo) we don't talk about it. I have no idea why either.
Shame.
-Nathan Smart
To the editor: Allen's "Casual Fortunes" article was an interesting and accurate overview of the indie development scene. It's a relief to find some good writing, and I'll definitely be checking back for more.
-Erik Hermansen
To the editor: I know two examples do not make a trend, but I noticed in your last issue, Greg bashes Doom 3 to exemplify what's wrong with the industry, while Joe bashes WoW to emphasize his ideas about piracy. We don't have established criteria for debating the quality of games, and subjectivity plays a big part in any game discussion, but still... I found those examples oddly misplaced:
- id Software and Blizzard are the kind of studios that Greg's ideal industry would support: free from the kind of scheduling, economic and creative restrictions which publishers impose.
- Doom 3 is arguably one of the most surprising departures that a popular game license has ever seen: focused on single-player when the original pretty much invented modern multiplayer, heavy on story elements when the original had the story written on the Readme.txt file.
- WoW may well be the least pirated commercial game ever made, considering its sales numbers - simply because its model is not open to piracy for any but the most hardcore hacker communities.
Stating personal tastes is fine, but calling Doom 3 and WoW "bad games" is way out of line, in my opinion. Stirring controversy that way is a common way to increase hits, but it's also the quickest route to stop being taken seriously.
-Javier Arevalo
To the editor: Can you please change the layout for your web site? It makes reading the content very difficult. I understand that it looks nice and pretty like an actual magazine does, but having columns on a web site is a terrible idea.
Or at least, could you offer a lightweight version that displays like normal web pages do?
The PDF version isn't any better, because I don't have a printer.
It's such a shame, because I love your essays, but I hate reading your site as a result of this.
-Robin
To the editor: The magazine is absolutely great. It's about time games got the positive and serious attention they deserve.
ps. I really like the formatting.
-Kourosh Dini, MD
To the editor: I found your website from a link at slashdot.org. I am so happy that you are publishing this magazine online. The articles are not only well-written and free from obnoxious advertising filler, but they are intelligent and original. I can't remember the last time I enjoyed a copy of any gaming magazine besides quickly flipping through to look at the flashy pictures. Every issue of every magazine feels like a copy-and-paste excuse to sell me advertising. Not your magazine.
Also, thank you for publishing your work in such an easy to read and use format. The artwork is colorful and tasteful without being distracting or obscuring content. Keep up the good work!
-Drew Yates
