So, we are welcome to bemoan the fact that the vast majority of the industry is dedicated to pumping out games devoted to asinine movie licenses, football and life-simulators that consist of stealing cars, buying clothes and hot coffee (which should now be the officially recognized street slang for having sex without taking off your clothes). We can wring our hands at the appalling lack of innovation that runs rampant therein. But we would do well to remember that a few games every now and then make it out of the pile of Manhunts and Madden 20XXs and Gundams and Dragon Balls and appeal to us on an elegantly simple level. These are the The Sims and the Icos and the Rezes of the world; they entertain us without making us feel like we have to cross that otaku line. Put succinctly, we, as a society, make games that don't make us feel like we have to be gamers, just like we can make movies that don't force us to be movie-watchers.
And it's pretty easy to tell right now, amid our heady predictions for the Revolution, that the Japanese are fairly competent at doing just that; where American gaming is by and large targeted at a particular hardcore gaming audience, Japanese developers, if ever so rarely, have been able to come out with those Nintendogs and Animal Crossings that are able to seduce people of all different genders, creeds and colors precisely because they feel so organic.
No, I don't think Advent Children will attract much in the way of the general American audience quite yet, but there is no question that the space for non-gamer gaming is expanding. Why, just the other day my girlfriend - yes, that same joystick-fearing young lady - mentioned to me a few days ago that she'd like to try that new game for the PS2 that she heard about from her friend - Calamari Dynasty? Fancy that - I just picked up We Love Katamari the other day.
Pat Miller has been doing this for way too long.
