Disclaimer: The opinions expressed within this column are those of the participants and the moderator, and do not necessarily reflect those of the GIA. There is coarse language and potentially offensive material afoot. I have never been involved with the development of a commercial game project. Unfortunately. Don't say we didn't warn you.

First off, take a look at this, a screenshot from the ending credits of DQ7. (No spoilers involved.)

Names look familiar? They should: those are all RPGamer staffers, and the guy at the bottom, Mike Tidwell, owns the site. In short, we have a website covering and reviewing a game in public, and having some of its key personnel work on that same game in private.

So what's the big deal? Truthfully, that's up to you to decide for yourself: no gaming website is all that important, when all's said and done. It's likely a breach of criticism ethics, but when we're talking about video games and semi-pro websites, who cares? And it's not like the GIA hasn't been in a similar situation.

Still, I'd like to think there are some legitimate concerns here. The GIA may have a staffer involved with the US localization of Shadow Hearts, but that staffer's kept well away from any news or reviews regarding the game since Midway's localization was announced, and we've always been completely up front about the situation. In contrast, RPGamer hasn't said anything about their involvement with DQ7 that I'm aware of; certainly there's nothing about it in their review of the game.

Bit of a sticky wicket, wot? I've got a column to write, so y'all think it over while you're reading the letters below, and we'll revisit this in the setup for tomorrow's topic. Meanwhile...

Onward.

I'd tend to think that the relative popularity of DDR and its ilk is both a blessing and a curse. Consider that at the moment, DDR isn't all that well known to the general public, and many (but not all) of the people who play it fall into traditional gaming stereotypes: pale, somewhat out of shape, tend to like other types of games like RPGs, perhaps also anime fans. At least, that's a rough description of a good number of the people I know who are DDR fans.

Problem is, your experience in Six Flags tends to suggest that there's some crossover potential here, that non-gamers who wouldn't necessarily try their luck at Virtua Figher or Time Crisis might try to play DDR. What's more they might actually be better at it than the nerds who usually play it, since they're likely in better shape and maybe have more practice dancing in real life. In other words, physically fit, coordinated non-gamers might be able to completely decimate traditional arcade gamers, whose skill is entirely limited to fingers and wrists. What happens to the nerds then? Where do you go once you become dispossessed?

End of melodrama.

Gitraroo-Man is coming, and according to staffers who have played the import, it indeed rocks. Fear Gitaroo-Man.

And yeah, home conversions are definitely in the works, which lets a little air out of my rant above: I might personally be too clumsy to ever dream of playing DDR in the public (instead I'll retreat to the old Dark Stalkers machine in the corner, and take my impotent rage out on the fools there) but at a casual get together with equally-geeky friends, I don't mind making a fool out of myself on somebody's home DDR pad. Heck, the best way to describe these games might simply be: "Twister for the 21st century."

Wake up, Jigsaw - the issue is not that the letter writer from yesterday was living in some parallel reality, the issue is that the Xbox and Gamecube ads are clearly targeted at different audiences, such that one person's viewing habits might cause them to see nothing but Nintendo ads, and another's might cause them to see nothing but Microsoft stuff.

The real question is, how exactly are the companies targeting their ads? And I gotta admit, I'm mystified. I watched the Simpsons Halloween Special on tv last night, followed by 24 (disappointing and pretty cool, respectively), and saw nothing but Xbox ads - in comparison, I think the last Gamecube ad I saw was Sunday afternoon, while surfing through a football game. Perhaps Xbox was after the proverbial single young males with lots of discretionary income, while Gamecube was trying to remind dads watching the Sunday game that they should buy a Gamecube for their kids. Still, I wouldn't think the demographics would be that skewed... presumably the Simpsons are just as fertile an advertising ground for one console as the other. Strange.

Ah yes, the hardware concern. Underground support's about right - consider Samba de Amigo, one of the coolest, most addictive games imaginable, but crippled by the lack of widespread maraca support. ("Widespread maraca support"... there's a phrase I never thought I'd write.)

Admittedly, there does seem to be more of a tendency these days for companies to bring out specialty controllers like those needed to play DDR and SdA, and once a critical mass of household controllers is reached, selling rhythm games here in the States will become much more popular. Still, until the day when it's just as easy to get the full DDR experience at home as it is to get the full Mario experience, I can't think that rhythm games will be all that mainstream.

Ah, here's an interesting quirk of rhythm games: the importance of the music therein. Here, as everywhere, you're never going to be able to satisfy everyone, but as Gilbert points out, the specific music in a rhythm game is a big deal. If an RPG is scored by Yoko Shimomura instead of Yasunori Mitsuda, some people might complain, but the game's sales will be fundamentally the same.

On the other hand, the inclusion of a Britney Spears song on top of the standard DDR engine might attract thousands while sending thousands more screaming in fear, even though it's the exact same gameplay. Gilbert doesn't like the generic pop/electronica of most DDR games, but likely there's someone who despises PaRappa because of the odd, quirky little songs contained therein. Case in point, take a look at the Frequency song list, which could make or break the game with potential buyers.

I suppose the only good thing to say is that, since the game engine is pretty much the same from title to title, it's not difficult to produce lots of DDR games with enough variety to make everyone happy. Or perhaps, like Vib Ribbon, someone will someday be able to fit the DDR engine entirely into the system RAM, and people will be able to plug in their own music CDs (or MP3s, off of a hard drive) to dance to whatever they want.

I sincerely hope you're wrong, although your reasoning is quite accurate for the most part.

At this point, I'd tend to suggest that the main hope for many of these niche games is that many consoles are just getting established, which means that people are more apt to try new things.

Think about it for a moment: at the end of the PSX's lifespan, there were tons of great games, and tons of not-so-great sequels to once great games, which meant that if you had a PSX, you had tons of familiar titles and genres to choose from, and weren't as likely to try a quirky new title.

Now, on the other hand, we have new consoles with limited libraries, and a few of those familiar old series won't successfully be able to migrate to a new system. Because of this, people have less choice, and might be more likely to try something new: "Frequency? I dunno what that is, but the grandkids didn't ask for any game in particular, and this looks as good as any."

Ok, it's a pipe dream, but it's not entirely implausible. I hope.

Closing Comments:

Now that I've done my rant about RPGamer's involvement with DQ, it's your turn to say what your feelings on the matter are. Big deal, trivial matter, or the end of gaming journalism as we know it? I invite your emails, and if somebody from RPGamer wants to send in their side of the story, so much the better. Adios for now.

-Chris Jones, "not doing the thing that nobody had ever thought of not doing"